New Home Sales Plunge 16.6%

EconomicPolicyReview.com ^

[dangus]

Oh, no! The home Janet Yuppee bought for $230,000 six years ago is worth only $930,000, not $928,000!

[dangus]

I mean:

Oh, no! The home Janet Yuppee bought for $230,000 six years ago is worth only $928,000, not $930,000!

She was a fool to buy!

[WashingtonStateRepublican]

I'm surprised the numbers aren't higher considering the number of would be now home buyers who were unfortunately aborted (against their will) by their mothers.

What's going to happen when our parents and grandparents start passing. The reproduction rate has been on the decline with the only factor keeping the real estate industry strong being immigration both legal and illegal.

Someday there is going to be one heck of a lot of empty houses.

[cinives]

I had already moved out so it was even worse for me - I had to keep going back to turn down the heat they had cranked up for their visits, turn out all the lights they'd left on, and neaten up the place. Someone even crapped in a toilet and didn't flush - some people are just pigs.

I loved that house but after 3 months of the general public tramping thru I was so glad it sold.

[cinives]

Nah, we'll just keep importing immigrants. There are now a heck of a lot more people in the US than there have ever been.

[p. henry]

All politics is local (except in 94 and 74). Housing markets also tend to be local. Here in San Diego some neighborhoods have suffered significant declines in housing prices in the last two years while some have maintained their value.

The one exception to that rule is a national recession, during which asset values of all types suffer. We are probably headed into a recession either late this year or early next year. Declines in commodity prices, consumer confidence, housing prices, and now the stock market are all signaling a coming recession. Rising default rates and the tightening of the subprime mortgage market are also not helpful. Finally, it's been seven years since our last downturn, and the business cycle has not been repealed.

Hold on to your hats. The ride during the next two to three years is going to be interesting.

[riverdawg]

"We ... made people take their shoes off at the door."

I understand to some degree your insistence on this, but in sluggish housing markets - where traffic volume is especially important - this is a real turn-off. A few years ago when we were looking to buy, a builder who was showing new homes in a semi-rural subdivision had this policy. The weather was sunny, and there was no danger of tracking in mud from the street. Mrs. Riverdawg's jaw dropped open, and she quickly waved us off the porch and back to the car. There were simply too many other nice houses on the market to put up with having to walk around in stockings/socks or bare feet to see a house. We wouldn't have minded if the builder had put plastic or paper sheets down instead, but he obviously didn't want to be bothered. Three months later, we noted that the same house was still on the market while others in the neighborhood (built by other contractors) had sold.

[agrarianlady]

She was a fool to buy!

She might be a fool not to sell. ;-)

[CharlesWayneCT]

And when we kick out 20 million illegals, that's a LOT of empty houses -- like 10 or 20. :-)

[roaddog727]

"roaddog, you're making too much sense. LOL!"

Yeah, I get that alot. Economists have a tendency to look at the big picture as opposed to some of the "media"......

ROTFLMAO

[goldstategop]

Eh. I bought a condo in February. Just don't tell any one people are still buying. Sssssssshhhhhhhhhhh.

"Show me just what Mohammed brought that was new, and there you will find things only evil and inhuman, such as his command to spread by the sword the faith he preached." - Manuel II Palelologus

[Holicheese]

I agree 100%. My fiance and I had the whole cleaning down to a science. We could do top to bottom in 1.5 hours.
The realtor actually told us to calm down with the cleaning but it was the only thing in the process we could control.
It was when we had multiple people in one day that we really insisted the shoes would come off. That was only in the winter when there was snow and salt and sand in the driveway.
My thing was the cat box. I would fly home right before people would come over and do the bax and use a cat box de-stinker. My boy cat Lindros always seemed to know people were coming and he would save a fish heavy log for about 5 minutes before the people would arrive.

[FightThePower!]

January was warm in the North.

[roaddog727]

The month before that

[RobRoy]

Other stats said home sales were up. Man, this thing is certainly "interesting".

[RobRoy]

>>According to a lot of realtors I spoke with at the time, Jan 15th onwards starts a good selling season because its a good time to position a move at the end of the school year.<<

Yep. I used to be in real estate. November and December figures can be a bit missleading because it is the official slow season in real estate. January is when things start ramping up.

This is one reason I said last fall that come the end of April I believe we will know if this thing bottomed out and is coming back, of if we are in the beginning stages of a serious recession.

[RobRoy]

>>Yawnnnnnn...not breaking and a correction to the housing (or stock market is no big deal. It's expected and common.<<

Have you been following this? The debate is not whether or not ther is a correction (although that WAS the debate last year - one side was proven right, if you get my drift), but how serious it will be. People that bought years ago and let their equity build will not be as acutely affected by this. Those who bought in the last twelve months with creative financing, or those who refinanced all of their existing equity away recently may be more effected.

How bad this thing will get depends on whether this reaches critical mass. If it doesn't it will just be a fairly seriouls correction of the biggest price runnup in history. If it does, well, it could be worse...

[cinives]

I agree with you. My realtor (a great guy) said the best months in real estate were from Jan thru mid May, then Sept and Oct.

I had put my house on the market in early Nov and he warned me that it would slow down significantly from the week of Thanksgiving thru mid-January.

It did slow down a bit but I had a lot of people thru even during the time he thought it would be slow. A lot of them turned out to be tire kickers.