Posted on 04/23/2014 7:24:08 AM PDT by John W
WASHINGTON—Sales of newly built homes plunged in March, the latest sign of a faltering U.S. housing market that has struggled to maintain its momentum in the last year.
New-home sales dropped 14.5% from February to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 384,000, the Commerce Department said Wednesday. February's rate was revised up slightly to 449,000.
(Excerpt) Read more at online.wsj.com ...
to quote the beach boys ... i can hear (crickets)
Is this partly because it was such a frigid February across the country?
My understanding is that there can be no economic “recovery” as long as the housing market is moribund.
America is exporting our very own jobs.
We need to promote American jobs.
Americans with jobs, build America.
But what about the WEATHER??? CNBC has blamed every bad economic indicator on the weather. It can’t use that excuse in the coming quarter.
Raise your hand if you ever believed there was a housing recovery.
Mortgage interest rates are creeping up and building material costs are skyrocketing.
I am having deja voo all over again. In March of 1980 I lost my construction job when the housing market crashed. I have been watching hussein destroy the economy and told myself when the houses stop being built the rest of the market will crash right behind it.
Of course this can’t be true because the tv tells me all is well and we are in a fine recovery. Silly me, I thought being 17 trillion in debt and having money printed as fast as possible to prop up the stock market was a bad thing.
Hang on for the ride, it’s gonna get ugly.
The job market which is just fine and growing, is in the Peoples Republic of China.
America imports everything.
Bring back American manufacturing jobs. Now.
Yep and that 29 hour per week job does not qualify you for much of a loan.
Another “unexpected” fact I’ll presume.
A depressed housing market is just one symptom of the non recovery.
There are a lot other factors that are keeping our economy in 1st gear.
And the demonrats caused them and are pleased with their selves.
If that’s the prevailing income in an area the cost of housing will eventually reflect it, which will not bode well for resale values. Unless, of course, the population increases so rapidly that prices aren’t depressed by individuals doubling or tripling up in a given house because they can’t afford shelter otherwise.
the scrutiny they put us thru...all our tax returns, casino winnings, even my electric and gas bill, even had to write a letter stating why I only work "part time" and even had them check my employment status even though we had w2's and several paycheck statements....
if I knew that the house market was going down I might have been tempted to go tell them to pound sand and find other suckers to drill...
Its a vicious cycle right now. Most people have to sell the hosue they live in to buy another house. If there is no equity in their current house due to depressed prices they cannot make the move. One or two foreclosures in a neighborhood will ruin the comps for 6-12 mos.
Its all bad right now. Well unless you are my brother in law with a mini mansion in Fairfax County, VA which is one of the hot spots.
A while ago, there was an article talking about the vastly overpriced Vancouver real estate market.
This is what $899,500 Canadian bought you in Vancouver.
In the depressed Irish real estate market, a hotel that was asking for $6 million sold for $860,000 - less than for the Vancouver $%^% box home.
Did the same a couple of years ago. It was beyond ridiculous especially when they are looking at your credit record and it shows excellent across the board, they come back and ask for stupid stuff. A couple months before, I transferred some money from my brokerage account at one financial institution to my everyday checking account at another to help pay for our vacation expenses. It was only $1,000, but they wanted a full explanation about where that money came from in the first place? Was it a bonus, salary, savings, etc? I was like WTF and almost said the hell with it if not for the fact it brought down our note to a twelve years from the sixteen years we had remaining. Hopefully we will be in that house for another twelve years and it continues to appreciate in value (Thank you Texas economy), so the next time we move we can pay the whole enchilada off in cash and be done! Screw the mortgage regulators!
I’m in process of selling a house just north of Greensboro, NC. Sales are actually going fairly well since last year. Resale values have recovered to almost where they should have been without the crash. We never had bubble prices here but there was about a 30% decline at the bottom, probably 2011, and at that time it would have taken a year or more to sell at that depressed price. Now it’s more normal, three or four months for a decent, maintained house that is not in a bad area. I’m going to take it and run, lol. There are better places to be at lower cost in my current circumstances.
Fairfax County, VA which is one of the hot spots.”
Suburbs of Houston are also hot spots. Lots of new subdivisions springing up all around us and they are selling like hotcakes. Because of state law they can’t raise tax rates so the local taxing authorities continue to increase current home values. Mine has gone up 15% in the last two years. About to break the bank.
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