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Sales of new U.S. homes tumble 16.9% to record low
CBS Marketwatch ^ | March 23, 2011 | by Steve Goldstein

Posted on 03/23/2011 7:25:12 AM PDT by library user

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To: library user
GARY SHILLING: And Now House Prices Will Drop Another 20%
21 posted on 03/23/2011 7:41:31 AM PDT by blam
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To: Grunthor

Exactly! What we really need to see to make sense of this info is what are the total home sales (of all types) and vacancy rates, and how do those figures compare to the past few years.


22 posted on 03/23/2011 7:42:34 AM PDT by ROLF of the HILL COUNTRY
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To: VanDeKoik

Perhaps. Maybe just a funky dance and a few boxes of ammo would do it?


23 posted on 03/23/2011 7:43:05 AM PDT by RockinRight (I once had my identity stolen. Once they got to know me, they gave it back right away.)
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To: April Lexington
Just remember, folks... your friends and neighbors elected this sight gag...

Yeah. I can't look at some people without wanting to scream at them.

People with Obama stickers on the car I do scream at. They can't hear me but it feels good.

24 posted on 03/23/2011 7:43:59 AM PDT by raybbr (People who still support Obama are either a Marxist or a moron.)
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To: library user

why would anyone buy a new home at full retail price, when the housing market is up to 50% foreclosures and short sales in most areas?

Realtor friend here last summer pointed out that new development homes costing $600K were selling resale for $400K or less


25 posted on 03/23/2011 7:44:43 AM PDT by silverleaf (All that is necessary for evil to succeed, is that good men do nothing)
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To: tcrlaf

Yes! Why are the banks doing this with the Zombie/shadow properties?


26 posted on 03/23/2011 7:45:18 AM PDT by GOPsterinMA (Some men DO just want to watch the world burn.)
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To: library user

Obviously it isn’t good to be at record lows.

But looking at the broader picture, given that almost nobody “breaks” a house (and if you rebuild a house that is broken, it doesn’t count as a “new home sale”), if our population isn’t growing as fast, and more people than ever own homes, wouldn’t we expect that at some point, new home sales would in fact drop to much lower numbers?

I mean, won’t we saturate the market at some point? It’s not like cars, where we throw out old ones and buy new ones. Theoretically, we could reach a point where there are NO ‘new homes’ sold under the definition, since everybody who wants a home will already have one, and the number of births will equal the number of deaths so everybody will be able to move up using existing homes.

Same problem with measuring sales of existing homes — theoretically, you could have times when everybody is happy with where they live, and nobody wants to move, so nobody sells their existing homes.


27 posted on 03/23/2011 7:48:48 AM PDT by CharlesWayneCT
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To: blam

Isn’t the simple problem that housing prices were a bubble? It’s great when you own a home and it’s value doubles or triples. But those starting out can’t afford a decent home.

My parents built a 3 bedroom brick house in the 196o’s in a good neighborhood in NJ for $18,000.

IMHO lots of the economy around us is a bubble, right down to designer shirts for $98. Made worse by government programs, now government inflation.


28 posted on 03/23/2011 7:49:33 AM PDT by Williams (It's the policies, stupid.)
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To: TSgt

why give someone taxpayer money to spend $300K on a new house they can buy a similar reasle house for $150K on the open market?

art of the problems with housing (commercial properties next boot to drop) is the govt socila architetcts keep tinkering with the system instead of just letting the wound burst open, drain, and then heal (ie, let prices be dictated by supply and demand)

If they want to do away with the mortgage interest deduction, then just do it and let the chips fall

It may take another generation to change how people accept downsizing and how to allocate their money left after taxes for housing, so let’s let the democrats do it already


29 posted on 03/23/2011 7:49:56 AM PDT by silverleaf (All that is necessary for evil to succeed, is that good men do nothing)
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To: TSgt
I know this is just crazy talk but how about some generous tax credits for buying a home or two to eat up some of this supply an re-stabilize prices?

Yes, that is crazy talk.

We're just now getting back to per-bubble levels in many regions, and that is a Good Thing.

There should be no tax credits for buying up one asset type (homes) any more than for buying up any other asset type (stocks, gold, oil).

The housing market needs many years of benign neglect from the government so that home prices can be brought back into their fundamental relationships with incomes and rents.

30 posted on 03/23/2011 7:50:08 AM PDT by Notary Sojac (When you buy stocks, you're betting on Bernanke)
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To: TSgt
why give someone taxpayer money to spend $300K on a new house they can buy a similar resale house for $150K on the open market?

art of the problems with housing (commercial properties next boot to drop) is the govt social architects keep tinkering with the system instead of just letting the wound burst open, drain, and then heal (ie, let prices be dictated by supply and demand)

If they want to do away with the mortgage interest deduction, then just do it and let the chips fall

It may take another generation to change how people accept downsizing and how to allocate their money left after taxes for housing, so let's let the democrats do it already

31 posted on 03/23/2011 7:50:17 AM PDT by silverleaf (All that is necessary for evil to succeed, is that good men do nothing)
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To: ClearCase_guy

“I’m ... uh ... I’m gonna blame the weather. Yeah! That’s the ticket!”

Uh, don’t you mean Global Warming? That’s what’s causing the housing collapse, right? It must be: that’s what’s causing everything else that’s bad (except for the dwindling number of things being blamed on Bush).


32 posted on 03/23/2011 7:52:42 AM PDT by catnipman (Cat Nipman: Made from the right stuff!)
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To: Grunthor

“I like to think of it as the “Frank/Dodd” legacy.”

At first I thought you said the “Frank/Dodd Agency”, as in a real estate firm specializing in unloading foreclosures. :)


33 posted on 03/23/2011 7:54:34 AM PDT by catnipman (Cat Nipman: Made from the right stuff!)
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To: April Lexington
Overbuilding is he primary cause of the collapse of the housing industry. There is up to a 15 year OVERHANG.

This was made possible through cheap loans and cheaper imported construction labor.

The solution may simply be to begin DISPOSING of surplus houses ~ e.g. Most of Detroit would be a good start.

34 posted on 03/23/2011 7:55:15 AM PDT by muawiyah (Make America Safe For Amercans)
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To: silverleaf; Notary Sojac

Clarification: Tax credit for EXISTING homes not NEW homes


35 posted on 03/23/2011 7:55:47 AM PDT by TSgt (Colonel Allen West & Michele Bachman - 2012 POTUS Dream Team Ticket!)
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To: library user

Here in Indiana most all our building contractors have went out of business. Most of them were long time family owned firms, too.


36 posted on 03/23/2011 7:56:27 AM PDT by raisincane (Food and gasoline prices are rising along with my temper.)
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To: library user

Here in Indiana most all our building contractors have went out of business. Most of them were long time family owned firms, too.


37 posted on 03/23/2011 7:56:44 AM PDT by raisincane (Food and gasoline prices are rising along with my temper.)
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To: library user

That is some recovery


38 posted on 03/23/2011 7:58:32 AM PDT by GeronL (The Right to Life came before the Right to Happiness)
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To: silverleaf

That is probably true.

Here’s my (personal) question:

We didn’t overbuy, in fact when we purchased, our home was listed $35k UNDER most comparables in our area. We also bought about half what the bank said we were “approved” for.

We also made a small down payment but could have done more.

Yet, we’re STILL about ~$30k upside down at this point (bought 04/2008).

So what would my family do? (as well as those FAR worse off)

In that scenario we’re looking at an eventual value less than half our mortgage balance.

1. Stay here until we die, accept that we’ll never leave this liberal hellhole of a state, or spend all our cash to pay down a mortgage on an asset worth much less than the loan to MAYBE move in 10 - 14 years...

2. Walk away, and trash our credit, making future employment in my field (financial industry) difficult since banks and financial companies don’t like to hire people who’ve been foreclosed, especially voluntarily...

3. Hope that hyperinflation kicks in, increases our nominal home value, enables us to sell and pay loan off, but have the rest of our cash worthless.


39 posted on 03/23/2011 8:00:35 AM PDT by RockinRight (I once had my identity stolen. Once they got to know me, they gave it back right away.)
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To: library user

The USA has plenty of houses of already.

For the last decade or more, we have not had enough people to live in them all (demographics). But we did have enough (easy) money to buy them.

Now - we still don’t have enough people for the amount of housing out there, nor do we have enough money either.

Real-estate will be down for at least a generation.


40 posted on 03/23/2011 8:00:37 AM PDT by PGR88 (I'm so open-minded my brains fell out)
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