[Lunatic Fringe]

Ouch!

[Caveman Lawyer]

Maybe I wont move 50% of my 401k into REITs after all.

[rightinthemiddle]

Perhaps everyone was buying exisiting homes:

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1601748/posts

[dawn53]

So yesterday the headline was:

"Sales of Existing Homes Unexpectantly Rise"

and today the news is

"New Home Sales Plummet."

LOL!

[LS]

Oops. Looks like they missed this:

The drop in new home sales followed news Thursday that sales of previously owned homes actually rose by a stronger-than-expected 5.2 percent last month following five straight monthly declines.

When Katrina hit, I predicted that we would see NEW HOME sales stagnate as building costs pushed up prices . . . but that we would also see EXISTING HOME SALES increase, because relatively, existing homes suddenly would be better bargains than newer homes.

Nice to be right. This isn't a "bursting" of any "bubble," it's the natural outcome of higher building prices in the Katrina pipeline which took actually longer than I thought to have its effect.

[1066AD]

Could lousy weather have something to do with it ?

[AmericaUnited]

to a seasonally adjusted annual sales pace of 1.08 million homes.

But the question IS... IS THIS STILL NEAR A RECENT RECORD NUMBER?

[php5]

Sounds like a buyer's market....great news, since I'll be buying my first home in about three months.

[raybbr]

ping

[D-Chivas]

If all homes sales were still rising, they'd be complaining about the possibility of inflation coming back. It's always something negative.

[festus]

(Did the bubble just bust???)

Yes and were all dead now so you can stop worrying.

[Amanda75]

NO, morons, it was just too cold to shop for house, give it time to warm up and them watch out

[ridesthemiles]

The weather in the stronger sections of the economy - The West- was awful in Fedruary.

I think this is just a "statistic" that is a bump mostly due to the weather.
I didn't leave my property for over 12 days because every other day it was chains or 4 wd drive only in every direction. Not lots of snow, but dangerous on long desert hills. Glad I had a full freezer and NASCAR.

[new yorker 77]

Another FAKE headline from AP.

The Stock market would on news of a 'plummet' in home sales.

The AP is Pro-terrorist and anti-Bush.

They are a dishonest disgrace.

[OldFriend]

Existing homes sales were much higher than expected.

Most people contract for new homes to be ready in the spring or summer.

[new yorker 77]

Look at The Stock Market reaction to the phantom 'plummet':

More FAKE News from AP. Making a career of hyping fakery in order to spite President Bush and Republicans at every level.

[listingright]

The Commerce Department reported that sales of new single-family homes dropped by 10.5 percent last month to a seasonally adjusted annual sales pace of 1.08 million homes.

Reality Check! Lets look at historical sales rates for new single family homes. (Source: www.census.gov/const/www/newressalesindex.html)

Year # Sales
1986 750
1987 671
1988 676
1989 650
1990 534
1991 509
1992 610
1993 666
1994 670
1995 667
1996 757
1997 804
1996 757
1997 804
1998 886
1999 880
2000 877
2001 908
2002 973
2003 1,086
2004 1,203
2005 1,283

So, the rate fell to the 2003 level. How does it compare to every year from 1986 to 2003?

[wallcrawlr]

From the article:

Economists still believe that housing is likely to see a moderate slowdown this year rather than anything as severe as the bursting of the speculative bubble in stock prices at the beginning of this decade.

[Liberty Valance]

Wake me up when existing home sales plunge.

[xcamel]

another "disaster" reported out of context.. 39 months of "meteorirc growth" takes a slight breather and....

We're DOOMED!

[deltabravo]

Home prices continue to rise in southern california, just reported last night on televison. You can see the news report here.

http://cbs2.com/video/?cid=95