A certain one-issue broken record doom and gloom poster will not find this amusing.
So now we're dumbed down to the point that we have to start including definitions of basic words in news stories?
A few interesting things in this article.
First:
“The number of unsold homes fell by 1.4 percent in November to 545,000.”
This includes the number of homes simply taken off the market by sellers who do not have to sell. Many of these sellers will put them back on the market next year because they WILL have to sell. It will be interesting to see if this is a blip or a sign we have hit bottom.
Second:
“Builders have been cutting prices and offering various incentives such as helping to cover closing costs in an effort to move finished homes and reduce high cancellation rates.”
This means they are, in effect, lowering prices to move the homes. There is no other way to interpret this.
Third:
“It would take 6.3 months to exhaust the current supply of homes at the November sales pace, down from 6.7 months in October and 7.2 months in July.“
This assumes that people who took their homes off the market do not have to put them back on, flooding it again.
I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, come April I will either say “told you so” or I will eat crow.
I will know for sure really soon as my home in Portland maine goes on the Market next week...
New home sales rose 3.4 percent from the previous month to a 1.047 million annual rate, above economists' forecasts for a 1.018 million rate, according to the Commerce Department. But sales were down 15.3 percent from a year earlier.
Shares of home builders were each up more than 1 percent in morning trading, with the overall Dow Jones Home Construction index (^DJUSHB - News) gaining 10 points, or 1.4 percent, to 729.58. This index has lost 21 percent this year, and is down about 35 percent from its high in July 2005.
"The new home sales report did beat the consensus forecast and that, I think, provides further evidence to support the view that the worst of the housing downturn may have passed," said Alex Beuzelin, senior market analyst with Ruesch International in Washington.
But talk of a bottom may be premature since the government data doesn't capture cancellation rates, said John Tomlinson, home building analyst with Majestic Research in New York. Majestic's own survey of 36 top markets has showed high rates of cancellation, he said, as buyers demand higher incentives before closing on a home.
Many home buyers are willing to walk away from their deposits to seek a better deal.
"It's a quiet week in the market," Tomlinson said. "On the surface, the data may seem somewhat positive, but you need to take a deeper dive into the metrics before concluding that we've reached a bottom and things are picking up."
Among major companies in the sector, KB Home (NYSE:KBH - News) rose 73 cents to $51.52, Toll Brothers Inc. (NYSE:TOL - News) gained 57 cents to $32.26, and D.R. Horton Inc. (NYSE:DHI - News) was up 25 cents to $26.36. Shares of Lennar Corp. (NYSE:LEN - News), Ryland Group (NYSE:RYL - News) and Meritage Homes (NYSE:MTH - News) were also higher, all on the New York Stock Exchange.
Fortunately, we're doing the work ourselves, and SirKit has gotten some great deals on some large ticket items like a new refrigerator, double convection/conventional ovens, gas cooktop, steam shower, and shower stalls for two new bathrooms. We're also going to put in concrete countertops and ceramic tile in the kitchen, and new cabinetry in both upstairs bathrooms.
Seems like a lot of stuff, but we've seen the competition, and since our house doesn't have the square footage that some do, we can make our square footage much more efficient and useful, and update the finishes so the house will look newer than it's 18 years. The best part is we won't be over-improving for the neighborhood, since our house was right in the middle of the prices on the street when it was built, and values have held up pretty well, since it's a great neighborhood! We chose well, when we bought it.
What you talking about. Let's all rejoice the housing boom is back. Bid up them house prices and pay with "interest only" ARM loans.
/sarcasm