Posted on 10/25/2006 7:14:54 PM PDT by MeneMeneTekelUpharsin
WASHINGTON — Sales of existing homes fell for a sixth straight month in September and the median sales price dropped on an annual basis by the largest amount on record, further documenting a lukewarm housing market. The National Association of Realtors reported that sales of previously owned homes fell by 1.9 percent in September to a seasonally adjusted sales pace of 6.18 million units, the slowest sales rate since January 2004. The median price of a single-family home fell to $219,800 last month, a drop of 2.5 percent from the price in September 2005. That was the biggest year-over-year price decline in records going back nearly four decades.
Housing, which had set sales records for both new and existing homes for five consecutive years, has been rapidly loosing altitude this year, as consumers were battered by rising mortgage rates, soaring energy prices and a slowing economy. However, economists with the Realtors said they believed the housing decline could be hitting bottom. "The worst is behind us as far as a market correction — this is likely the trough for sales," said David Lereah, the Realtors' chief economist. "When consumers recognize that home sales are stabilizing, we'll see the buyers who've been on the sidelines get back into the market."
However, analysts said that the weakness in housing could last for several more months with a real upturn in sales not occurring until next spring. Sales were down in all sections of the country except the South, which posted a small 0.4 percent increase. Sales fell the most in the Northeast, a drop of 3.7 percent, followed by the West, where sales were down 3.1 percent, and the Midwest, where sales fell by 2.8 percent. The inventory of unsold homes, after climbing to all-time highs, fell for a second straight month, decreasing 2.4 percent, to 3.75 million unsold homes at the end of September, which represents a 7.3 months supply at the September sales pace.
Sales of single-family homes dropped by 1.6 percent to an annual rate of 5.42 million units while sales of condominiums fell by 3.2 percent to an annual rate of 763,000 units. The 2.5 percent drop in the price of single-family homes pushed them down to $219,800 while condominium prices fell by 3.2 percent to a median price which was also $219,800.
Averages are totally misleading in this instance.
Remember the old real estate saw: "location, location, and location."
Houses in desirable neighborhoods will maintain or increase sales and prices. Houses in speculative and/or less desirable neighborhoods, are going to be more affected.
the stock market is at record highs.
Sales of existing homes dropped here in Los Angeles last month quite a bit ... but prices rose 4%!!!
The market has been slowing in most areas for months now. The inventories in some areas are extremely high. In general I think it'll keep trending down at least until spring, but some of the areas that I have looked at are in for a lot of localized 'crashes'. In my opinion of course.
The housing market in general has been slowing down for over a year now...suddenly, in time for the elections, it's panic time.
C'mon.... what are the odds?
this means that even more people will soon own a home. that the record number of homeowners will go past 70% for the first time in history and that it is all the FAULT of President Bush. It is the economy stupid. /msm rant off
Well, it is slowing around here. I've posted 2-3 instances of housing prices I looked at that dropped by a significant amount. One was at 130K and dropped to 119K. Another dropped from the ask of about 450K and sold at 358K. I thought that was a LOT. Now, maybe I'm wrong. If so, I'll admit it cheerfully. Let's watch for a few more months to see what the actual truth was at this time.
Fer instance, 1600 Pennsylvania Ave is likely to go for a significantly larger sum in 2008 than in 2004. All is well with the housing market, it remains, location, location , location.
Prices are not dropping in Connecticut. i'm looking to buy a low end single family in a high end town. No movement downward in price, and houses don't stay on the market long.
--Your local housing cheerleader.
Wow, what a fabrication! Let's see, they've dropped off slightly from record highs, they're still high, mortgage rates are still lower than my parents ever saw, energy prices are dropping and the economy isn't slowing. Anything else?
On the other hand, $1M gets it, today. I used to say, I will send somebody for my stuff, now I think, tja, the heck with that, I will buy new stuff.
Note: My price point hasn't moved a dime. I am not in the market to sell.
It's true, at least locally here in Sacramento. Houses have dropped 15-20% in the last 18 months, inventory is the highest in years, houses are staying on the market for months with multiple price reductions. And the slowest time of year ia still to come. If it doesn't turn around in the spring, you could see a big buyer's market that lasts another year or two.
Maybe on a national scale, a 2.5% decrease is the biggest drop ever (which makes housing a pretty great investment I suppose, if you could just buy the entire national market).
On the other hand, I would never have thought that a 2.5% yearly decrease after a multi-year double-digit increase wouldn't be a big deal, and might be expected.
Prices in your neck of the woods are hugely inflated. They need to level out. Housing prices are probably 10x what they are here. I guarantee incomes aren't.
My municipality raised assessments to market in August. I had an appraisal for a re-fi up 5% between august and October
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.