Posted on 06/21/2011 8:42:26 AM PDT by tobyhill
Sales of existing homes fell in May, as severe weather and high gas prices weighed on the shaky housing market.
Home sales fell 3.8% to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 4.81 million, down from a revised rate of 5 million in April, the National Association of Realtors said Tuesday.
Sales were more than 15% lower than in May 2010.
Economists had expected a May sales rate of 4.79 million existing homes, according to consensus estimates from Briefing.com.
"Spiking gasoline prices along with widespread severe weather hurt house shopping in April, leading to soft figures for actual closings in May," said NAR chief economist Lawrence Yun.
Gas prices surged earlier this year, pinching household budgets and putting a damper on consumer spending. In addition, sales were hurt by tornados and flooding in May that devastated parts of the South and Midwest.
Sales fell more than 6% in the South and were down over 5% in the Midwest. By contrast, sales fell 2.5% in the Northeast and were flat in the West.
(Excerpt) Read more at money.cnn.com ...
It sounds ridiculous, but there’s something to it. We’re trying to sell, before our fourth baby gets here totally outgrown our house....ANYWAY, things were dead this spring, and since the sun has come out, it’s been non stop showings for us, six out of the last seven days.
Our agent says things picked up countrywide, and his theory was the weather.
“Obama’s Booming Economy (Sarc)”
The good stuff belongs to Obama, the bad stuff is
George Bush’s fault.
/Sarc/
“I do not know how much more of this Obama
“recovery” the construction industry can afford!”
Look into my eyes and repeat after me: “Obama is brilliant, Obama is brilliant, Obama is brilliant, Everything is George Bush’s fault, Everything is George Bush’s fault, Everything is George Bush’s fault.....
Repeat until the 2012 elections and call us on
the morning following the election.
Regards
How does high gas prices prevent home sales? The realtors can’t fill up their cars?
The sales numbers were ever-so-slightly better than expected, so the stock market is soaring on the “good news”.
Ridiculous.
Was this “unexpected?”
“The fact that so many are unemployed, underemployed or have no job security has nothing to do with the crashing housing market.”
Bingo. The fact that housing prices have been artifically manipulated into their sky high dollar amounts, that are realistically unaffordable, is an even bigger issue. This bubble has been nearly two decades in the making. With the $1 Billion dollar “Homeowner Bailout” (EHLP), the Obama administration is going to ensure that only those it wants to own a home can afford one.
Housing prices will drop another 50% unless snapped up by foreigners. The (average) housing prices today are unsustainable to the (average) U.S. family. Adjusted for inflation, for well over an hundred years, the average price of a single family dwelling was $100K (Except for about 2 years, following the depression, where manufacturing of housing was optimized, then the inflation adjusted price was about 65-70K).
When people get it through their heads that houses depreciate over time unless their money is losing it’s value faster, and realize that an oversupply of aging structures should, has, and will continue to fall, it will stop coming as a surprise.
The U.S. has NEVER had a populace that could afford the housing prices of the last few years, or even today. The unprecedented and extreme rise in housing over the last 2 decades was all based on cheap credit, governmental forced loans, and in many cases municipal manipulation (higher appraisal for tax assessment).
No one should be surprised that as 85% )IIRC) of new graduates are returning home, extended families are moving in together, and the overall job and economic outlook is plummeting, that the price of houses will fall for a decade or more (if there’s no sudden crash in the meantime).
Obama isn’t the cause of the housing correction, but he sure is going to do all in his power to make it worse, and use it to his advantage to decide who ultimately can and cannot own a home. He’s a politician, that’s what they do.
Obama isn’t the cause of the housing bubble correction, but he will make it worse to everyone involved (except to the elitists that he favors, that is). The democrats, however, are the driving force behind the bubble in the first place, and this rests squarely on their shoulders, as well as many republican facilitators (although some, like with the Fannie/Freddie whistleblowing, have been trying to correct the problem—or at least call attention to it). This (the correction) has been decades in the making, it was well into motion when Bush was leaving office.
(And some of us saw it in the early 2000’s.)
Yeah...it’s the weather. There’s a major freakin’ storm comin’.
Of course.
3.8% housing drop during a Democrat presidency:
Sales of existing homes fell in May, as severe weather and high gas prices weighed on the shaky housing market.
3.8% housing drop during a Republican presidency:
Sales of existing homes fell in May, as plans laid endorsed by the Bush administration fail to meet expectations.
I know—but in my case—I bought last spring—every single day I went out to look at houses it was pouring down rain; it couldn’t be helped; I went out when I was available and when my Realtor was available, and also every single Sat and Sun regardless of weather. I looked at 80+ houses in a 30 mile wide area.
I had a deadline in mind, though—school starting in the fall, and getting my kids registered ASAP so they wouldn’t be sent to a non-neighborhood “overflow” school in the district. So I looked all that rainy spring and closed escrow at the very beginning of summer. I was a serious buyer though.
At least I could see how the downspouts were working.
I guess a lot of buyers are more casual, and weather might make a big difference in when they feel like looking at houses. Funny to me though.
And, surprise, surprise, it keeps getting better! 0bama’s going to go down in history and it isn’t going to be positive. He and his Demonrat party have brought down the United States. A case study just like the Roman Empire.
Severe weather?? CNN is really scaping the bottom of the “Let’s Cover Obama’s Butt....(again)” barrel.
“ANYWAY, things were dead this spring, and since the sun has come out, it’s been non stop showings for us, six out of the last seven days.”
Not much of an issue here in Phoenix where it’s sunny 99.9% of the time - but the housing market continues to suffer.
Recovery summer II!
"The climate change that tore through Missouri and Alabama has skewed the housing numbers. Those were potential existing home sales completely flattened by climate change."
I remember when they blamed high unemployment numbers on ths snow storms.
I don’t know if anybody remembers, but it was the first gas shock off that led to the first recession of the double dipper we’re in right now.
Yes, I said it, haven’t heard any talk about it on the news (of course I don’t watch TV) but I say we’re already in Round 2. It takes a few months for the statistics to catch up.
RECESSION II: THE NIGHT *HE* CAME BACK
Surprisingly, enexpectedly ad nauseum.
My son’s mother-in-law is a life time lefty. She’s now VP in a small town bank. We were having dinner with her last week and she said, with due gravity and seriousness, that the economy was finally turning around. You know what her specialty is? Mortgages! Yep, that’s right. These people have lost, if they ever had it, the ability to comprehend reality. They are hard wired into the endlessly repeated demrat talking points. To the extent that what is happening right in front of them does not even register in their brain.
Naturally, I kept my mouth shut for my son’s sake.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.