Posted on 09/24/2008 9:42:27 AM PDT by Zakeet
Existing-home sales resumed falling in August and prices took a record drop of 9.5% from a year earlier, but inventories decreased sharply.
Sales of previously owned homes declined in August, but in a promising sign the backlog of unsold homes shrank.
Sales of existing homes fell 2.2% in August from the previous month to an annual sales pace of 4.91 million units, the National Association of Realtors said Wednesday. The data cover sales of homes, condominiums, and townhouses.
The inventory of unsold houses fell to a 10.4-month supply at the current sales pace, compared to July's 10.9-month supply. The current inventory is still large and many analysts say prices must fall even more to attract buyers. The median home price was $203,100 in August, down 9.5% from the year before.
"We would not expect to see any real stability in the housing market until we work off more of this inventory," said Wachovia Corp. economist Adam York in a note to clients.
Sales increased in parts of California, Florida and Nevada where subprime loans and foreclosures are heavily concentrated, the NAR said. Chief economist Lawrence Yun noted that sales of deeply discounted properties "are accounting for a disproportionately high level of sales in the current market" and helping to drive down the median sales price.
Efforts to work through bloated inventories may be hampered by the financial crisis on Wall Street.
(Excerpt) Read more at online.wsj.com ...
Regionally, sales of existing homes declined 6.6% in the Northeast and 5.3% in the West. Sales rose 0.9% in the Midwest and 0.5% in the South.
Unless you keep your house up...people won't pay what you THINK you should get.
Government created this problem.
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