Posted on 11/20/2006 9:47:58 PM PST by GodGunsGuts
AP Home Sales Plummet in 38 States in 3Q
Monday November 20
By Lauren Villagran, AP Business Writer
Third-Quarter Home Sales Plummet in 38 States During the Summer; Home Prices Also Tumble
NEW YORK (AP) -- The feeble U.S. housing market showed more frailty when third-quarter home sales plummeted in 38 states, hitting Nevada, Arizona, Florida and California particularly hard, government data showed on Monday.
The once-booming real estate market's persistent weakness over the past year has reined in expectations for economic growth but hasn't been severe enough to offset a rising stock market, lower gas prices and improved consumer expectations.
The National Association of Realtors reported Monday that sales of existing homes fell in 38 states during the summer. Sales retreated to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 6.27 million units nationwide, down by 12.7 percent from the same period a year ago. Nevada, Arizona, Florida and California led the declines.
Home prices also dropped: The realtors' survey showed that the midpoint price for an existing home sold during the summer dipped 1.2 percent year over year to $224,900. Some 45 metropolitan areas saw home prices decline.
Meanwhile, the latest report of building permits showed the slowest pace of annual growth in nine years in October. Housing construction slid sharply as builders tried to curb swelling inventories of unsold new and existing homes.
Stuart Hoffman, chief economist at PNC Financial Services Group, said he thinks the housing market still hasn't reached its low point.
"I think the permits numbers point to yet another flight of stairs down on housing before we hit the basement," he said. "On the other side, stocks are rising, consumer confidence is good and jobs are rising. Those factors are keeping this decline in housing contained."
A closely watched indicator of future economic activity release Monday provided further evidence of that trend.
The Conference Board, an industry-backed research group based in New York, reported Monday that its Index of Leading Economic Indicators rose 0.2 percent in October. Increased real money supply and improved consumer expectations helped offset the sharp decline in housing permits and weaker vendor performance.
"The economy is growing more slowly, but we have yet to have weakness spread beyond housing and motor vehicles to such a degree that we need to fear the proximity of a hard landing," said John Lonski, chief economist of Moody's Investor Service, referring to when the economy turns from growth to a recession.
The housing market slowdown has weighed on the leading indicators index this year. But all told, strengths and weaknesses in the leading indicators have been roughly balanced, according to the Conference Board report. The index stood at 138.3 versus 139.1 in January -- its peak so far this year. The index has declined four of the last seven months.
The Conference Board's labor economist, Ken Goldstein, said the October index suggests "the economy is unlikely either to reheat or to get significantly cooler."
"Instead, the kind of slow growth now being experienced could continue right through the winter and into the spring," Goldstein said.
In another sign of moderating economic growth, the Federal Reserve held its benchmark interest rate steady last month at 5.25 percent for the third straight session. The Fed had raised interest rates 17 times beginning in June 2004 to stave off inflation, before halting its campaign of credit-tightening in August.
You probably know just enough to be a bit confused. The Fed didn't set those 18% rates back in the '80s. Those weren't short rates, and short rates are the only rates the Fed has the ability to set.
Long rates, like those 18 percenters, are determined by the action of the world's bond traders, who in the aggregate have more firepower than the Fed. Long rates are a function of anticipated inflation plus a real return on capital.
Not enough to offset the buying power of some newly rich Indians and Chinese.
I'm no economist but I would think the dynamic of a boom is that it begins with demand and ends when the demand has been met. People, even in the richest country can't keep buying new homes indefinitely. Whatever inventory is left over will be sold at a discount or a loss. Then in a few years it will begin to pick up again.
I missed this last gold rush....unfortunately. Read an article in a June issue of Forbes about all the billions of dollars that was poured into stocks of mining companies that were not producing anything. I think there could be a big bubble here.
Most people do not own 224,000 dollars worth of stocks which is the median price of a home.
Down 1.2 percent is more like down 3 percent if you add in inflation which on 224,000 is a 7,500 dollar loss.
Disposable income is your after-tax income. Discretionary income is what remains of your disposable income after you pay for the essentials- food, clothing, housing, medical care, and so on. It's your spending money, or savings, whichever you choose.
If you have unwanted house guests, I guess burning down your house is one solution to getting them to leave.
Depends on where you live, of course. The median price of a house in southern CA is more like $600,000.
The fed has been near perfect. When the 2000 stock market bubble deflated, we lost 8 trillion in market value and then came 9-11. We needed a housing bubble to offset that without a depression setting in. Now stocks have stabilized, it is time to let the air out of the housing bubble.
Watch for the markets like Seattle, where prices have basically flatlined since the begining of May for median and below median homes after massive gains the past couple years. Realtors have labeled it one of the cities that will never see major price corrections. Seattle is scheduled to have some massive condo tower projects coming on the market in 2007. Thousands of units in downtown Seattle and downtown Bellevue. There was lots of pre-sale action in the begining of this year with these projects. Lots of speculators looking for a quick flip once construction was complete. Now that prices have flatlined for this long, wonder how many flippers are starting to sweat.
http://housing-watch.com/regionview.aspx?city=Seattle&pct=50&g=m
http://housing-watch.com/regionview.aspx?city=Seattle&pct=25&g=m
I'm considering this. Why the hell should I pay and extra 5% when I can move to Florida with no income tax ?
I think so too. If you want to buy gold, I'd wait awhile. If the housing/mortgage market tanks we could see both a credit crunch and consumer spending dry up. Which could cause a bit of a global slow down. Gold might be a good deal cheaper in such an environment.
A decent summary of current trends, whether you agree with the conclusions or not.
http://www.investorsinsight.com/thoughts_va_print.aspx?EditionID=423
The Coming Collapse in Housing
by John Mauldin
11/17/2006
Introduction
What Will Collapse Housing Prices?
The Grand Disconnect
89 Booming Cities
Where's The Unemployment From Housing?
Two Price-Break Triggers
The Fed to the Rescue?
Some Observations on The Big Easy
Disclaimer
Introduction
This week I am in New Orleans at the annual New Orleans Investment Conference and quite frankly with so many good friends that I have given myself permission to not write a letter this week. But you will be getting an even better writer than me for this week's letter.
I arranged for good friend Gary Shilling to condense his 40 page letter on the housing market for you. While this letter will print long (for those of you who print the letter out), it is mostly charts, which Gary excels in. Gary argues that housing prices are not in for just a small decline but a material drop. I have argued that it is housing that will be one of the main causes of the next recession sometime next year. So without adding too much more copy, let's jump right into Gary's analysis. If you like this type of work, you can subscribe at http://www.agaryshilling.com/insight.html.
"If the idiotic Fed had paid attention to what the price of gold was saying (nearly tripled in 5-6 years), the bubble wouldn't have gotten so big, and other costs wouldn't be rising so much."
That's not what fueled this bubble - toxic loans to people making 24K a year to buy $500K overpriced crap is what fueled it. The real estate industry, banks, and mortage houses have made out like bandits off it, and are still pimping the Koolaid.
They are pumping the Koolaid, at the same time, they have been laying of workers like crazy that deal with the mortgage side of the business.
I work for one of the biggest mortgage lenders/banks in the US. Trust me. They know the ride is over and are already adjusting their hedges and strategies. I see it all over the place at work and in the industry.
Excellent summary of the coming housing bust.
If you have a ping list on housing I'd like to be on it. You seem to be uniquely situated to keep us posted on what's going on in the mortgage/real estate industry.
Thanks for the update and charts.
Speculators in real estate can quickly be slaughtered. If you want to watch some carnage over the next 18 months, go here: http://www.perdidobeachcondos.com/PerdidoKeyListingsbyCondo
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