I can't wait for the property to deflate back to $15,000 so I can buy.
Posted on 11/29/2006 8:54:35 AM PST by Graybeard58
WASHINGTON -- Sales of existing homes posted a tiny increase in October, but the median home price fell by a record amount. Analysts forecast more price declines in coming months as the once-booming housing market undergoes a painful correction.
The National Association of Realtors said Tuesday that existing home sales edged up 0.5 percent to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 6.24 million last month. It was the first increase after seven consecutive monthly declines.
However, the median price for a home sold dropped to $221,000 in October, a decline of 3.5 percent from a year ago. That was the biggest year-over-year price decline on record.
It marked the third straight month that median prices have fallen compared with the same period a year ago, the longest stretch of such declines on record. The median is the point where half the homes sold for more and half for less.
David Lereah, chief economist for the Realtors, said he expected home prices to continue falling for the rest of the year as sellers, accustomed to the booming market conditions of previous years, reluctantly cut their prices.
"Many buyers remain on the sidelines," Lereah said. "After a period of price adjustment, we'll see more confidence in the market and a lift to home sales should be apparent in the first quarter of 2007."
The once-booming housing market, which had been one of the economy's standout performers for the past five years, has experienced a significant slowdown this year, which has dragged down overall economic growth.
Some analysts have worried that the correction in housing could be severe enough to drag the entire country into a recession. However, those fears have eased in recent months as a big fall in gasoline and other energy prices has provided support for consumer spending.
For October, sales were down 2.9 percent in the Northeast and 1.2 percent in the South. However, they rose by 6.4 percent in the West and were unchanged in the Midwest.
The inventory of unsold homes rose by 1.9 percent in October to 3.85 million units, the second highest total on record. It would take 7.4 months to exhaust the backlog of unsold homes at the October sales pace.
Analysts predicted further price declines with inventories of both existing and new homes hovering near record levels.
By region of the country, median prices were down the most in the South, a drop of 7 percent followed by declines of 5.2 percent in the Northeast, 1.2 percent in the Midwest and 0.6 percent in the West.
And I happen to like the Waterbury paper.
bttt
I'm sure tax appraisals will soon plummet as well. (sarc)
"is sloppy journalism, at best."
Also known as just "journalism" these days, I'm afraid.
All part of the business cycle. Market forces push and and drop. It has always been like that and as long as America remains the same, it will continue.
Andre Agassi, poor baby, had to sell his Tiburon, Marin County mansion (two swimming pools, living quarters for the help, etc) for $3 mill less than he had paid for it.
Associated press
So true. It's only painful if you're trying to sell a house, or get a home equity loan on the one you already have.
| Greenspan Thinks Housing Decline Is Over! |
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| MarketWatch.com (by Dow Jones) ^ | 10/7/06 | John Shinal Greenspan sounds optimistic note on housing: report By John Shinal, MarketWatch Last Update: 12:49 PM ET Oct 7, 2006 SAN FRANCISCO (MarketWatch) -- Former Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan said that last week's rise in weekly mortgage applications could signal that the ``worst may well be over'' for the U.S. housing industry, according to a report of a speech Greenspan gave in Canada on Friday. |
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| Greenspan says US housing boom is over |
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| Reuters ^ | 5/18/06 | Reuters NEW YORK (Reuters) - Former Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan said on Thursday that the "extraordinary" boom in the U.S. housing market in recent years is over. "This has been quite an extraordinary boom," Greenspan told a Bond Market Association dinner in New York. "The boom is over. I think we can safely say that with a strong degree of confidence." Greenspan said there was a "high degree of froth in the system," and that it was clear that home equity extraction and the turnover of home sales was waning. |
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| Poll: Worst of U.S. housing slowdown over |
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| Reuters ^ | 21 Nov 06 | Staff Reporter NEW YORK - The worst of the United States’ housing market slowdown is over, economists forecast by nearly 2-to-1 in a Wall Street Journal online economic survey, the paper reported on its Web site on Tuesday. But the economists still predict that the average selling price of a house will fall somewhat next year, it said. |
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| Poll: Worst of U.S. housing slowdown over |
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| msnbc ^ | 11-21-06 NEW YORK - The worst of the United Statesf housing market slowdown is over, economists forecast by nearly 2-to-1 in a Wall Street Journal online economic survey, the paper reported on its Web site on Tuesday. But the economists still predict that the average selling price of a house will fall somewhat next year, it said. The 49 economists expect home prices, measured by the governmentfs Office of Federal Housing Enterprise Oversight index to fall by 0.5 percent next year, the WSJ reported on its Web site. That contrasted with a 13.4 percent increase in 2005. Story continues below «... |
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| Greenspan says economy escaping housing woes |
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| Reuters ^ | 10/26/06 | Alister Bull WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Former Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan said on Thursday the U.S. economy was pulling away from the shoals of a sharp housing-sector downturn and that the outlook for growth was "reasonably good." "Most of the negatives in housing are probably behind us," Greenspan said at a conference sponsored by the Commercial Finance Association "The fourth quarter should be reasonably good, certainly better than the third quarter." The government reports on third-quarter economic growth on Friday. After shooting ahead at a 5.6 percent annual clip at the start of the year, the economy advanced only 2.6 percent in... |
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These median house prices statistics are meaningless in a nation as vast as America with a diverse real estate market.
You've got to hand it to the media and their attempts to talk down the economy.
A drop in SALE PRICES of 3.5% DOES NOT MEAN THAT ANY HOMES HAVE DECREASED IN VALUE. Even if it did mean that, it is still totally insignificant in relation to the 20%+ increases we have seen for the past several years.
Agassi probably makes $3 million while he's sleeping.
Those are houses in the grassy areas of major highways.
Your statement is true but that is the luck of draw. My ex-wife was over $40,000.00 in credit card debt but there was not enough equity in the home to help. She moved out with her debt and a year later the house doubled in value. You win some and you loose some. The key factor is pay as you go.
So houses are more affordable. But do the media present it that way? No. To them it's a disaster.
smaller houses / condo's must be selling a little better
Part of what we're seeing is investors shifting money from housing into the stock market.
The role that investors play in the housing market is seldom mentioned. Do you know that about 30% of single family houses in some major markets are not owned by their residents, but are owned by investors?
Think about it. The stock market started declining in 2000, and about the same time, the housing market started taking off as investors bought houses.
Now the investors are selling off houses, having made a nice profit in the past five years, and are investing more in the stock market. Result - the housing market is showing a decline in prices, and the stock market has been going up.
Both housing and the stock market are driven by supply and demand.
And this shows how the news media can sensationalize something. It was a "crisis" when housing prices rose sharply, because it meant a struggle for the middle class to buy a house. Now that prices have been falling, it's a "crisis" because of hardships caused to someone who has to sell right now and perhaps lose some equity.
So no matter where the market is, it will be a crisis to report about on a slow news day.
Yeah, and this time two years ago, the media was decrying the 'irrational exuberance' in housing values that was pricing so many folks out of the market. But I guess they look at the situation as just another way to slam this Administration about the economy.
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