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New home sales plunge to lowest level in 16 1/2 years
Yahoo finance AP ^ | Thursday April 24 | Martin Crutsinger, AP Economics Writer

Posted on 04/24/2008 7:31:16 AM PDT by central_va

New home sales plunge to lowest level in 16 1/2 years, with biggest price fall in 38 years

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Sales of new homes plunged in March to the lowest level in 16 1/2 years as housing slumped further at the start of the spring sales season. The median price of a new home in March compared to a year ago fell by the largest amount in nearly four decades.

The Commerce Department reported Thursday that sales of new homes dropped by 8.5 percent last month to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 526,000 units, the slowest sales pace since October 1991.

The median price of a home sold in March dropped by 13.3 percent compared to March 2007, the biggest year-over-year price decline since a 14.6 percent plunge in July 1970.

The dismal news on new home sales followed earlier reports showing that sales of existing homes fell by 2 percent in March. Housing, which boomed for five years, has been in a prolonged slump for the past two years with sales and home prices falling at especially sharp rates in formerly boom areas of the country.

For March, sales were down in all regions of the country, dropping the most in the Northeast, a decline of 19.4 percent. Sales fell by 12.9 percent in the Midwest, 12.5 percent in the Midwest and 4.6 percent in the South.

In other economic news, orders to factories for big-ticket manufactured goods fell for a third straight month in March, the longest string of declines since the 2001 recession, while applications for unemployment benefits fell by 33,000 to 342,000


TOPICS: Business/Economy; Culture/Society; News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: bubblehousing
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To: AndyTheBear
"Sixteen years ago would be 1992. Was that a time of depression too? "

That was the worst economy in 50 years, wasn't it?

21 posted on 04/26/2008 2:17:16 PM PDT by blam (Secure the border and enforce the law)
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To: YHAOS
I buy to hold, and leave speculation to the really smart people,

But what you have done is to declare the present moment an excellent speculative opportunity. It is your words, not mine. This is nothing like an historic long term buying opportunity. There has to date been a minor market correction, with everyone holding their breaths hoping that Bush's $600 per person tax rebate or the heroics of the Federal reserve are going to save people from what has got to be an all time historic record in speculative folly.

22 posted on 04/26/2008 3:12:20 PM PDT by AndyJackson
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To: AndyJackson
"But what you have done is to declare the present moment an excellent speculative opportunity. It is your words, not mine. "

Please direct me to where I called the present housing decline a speculative opportunity. You have chosen to cast what I did say in that light, but they are your words and your interpretation. To what end, I can't imagine. To promote an argument? To demonstrate the amazing breadth and depth of your knowledge? Did my uncle bankrupt your daddy at a game of poker on a transport coming back from CBI? I don't know.

23 posted on 04/26/2008 3:57:12 PM PDT by YHAOS
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