Posted on 10/24/2007 8:22:01 AM PDT by Hydroshock
NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) -- Existing home sales sank 8 percent last month, to the lowest pace on record, according to the latest reading on the state of the battered real estate market released Wednesday.
Sales of existing homes slowed to an annual pace of 5.04 million in September, compared with a revised 5.48 million sales pace in August, according to the National Association of Realtors.
Last month's decline marks the largest since the current measure of existing home sales - which includes multiple-family dwellings - began in 1999.
Economists surveyed by Briefing.com had forecast that sales would slow to a 5.25 million pace.
Lawrence Yun, NAR senior economist, blamed the credit crunch.
"Mortgage problems were peaking back in August when many of the September closings were being negotiated, and that slowed sales notably in higher priced areas that rely more on jumbo loans," Yun said in a statement.
(Excerpt) Read more at money.cnn.com ...
Economy/Credit/Housing Issues Ping List
If you want on or off this list let me know.
How does an 8-yr history qualify as “ever”?
MV
Dunno...but the way these articles get shoved out daily makes me wonder if the MSM wants to talk it down more...to elect Hillary...
/tinfoil
Ouch! This is getting ugly.
Pray for W and Our Troops
So there you have it. We're still above 1998 levels for home sales.
It has been ugly, it is now getting fugly.
I agree that the press appears to be trolling for a recession going into the election cycle.
“doom & gloom” ping
“sky fell” ping
“lost trillions in equity” ping
“worst housing market since hoover” ping
“ranks of homeless swell” ping
“no health-care for kids because of mortgage payments” ping
“elderly can’t eat because of mortgage payments” ping
"no homes left in Louisiana & California" ping
ok...did I miss anybody ?
But homes sales weren’t tracked until 1999! :)
How will we EVER know!?
Doomed! Doomed! We’re doomed!
MV
There's just a ten month supply of homes for sale on the market, nationally.
It's a few local markets like Miami that are going to get hammered. Outside the bubble zones (just a few cities), life will remain fine.
Done
“it’s all Bush’s fault ping.”
Doom despair and agony on me
Deep dark depression, excessive misery
If it weren't for bad luck, I'd have no luck at all
Gloom despair and agony on me
“How does an 8-yr history qualify as “ever”?”
Exactly. Sort of like when they tell you that it’s the hottest it’s ever been “on record.” The “record” of course is only 120 years.
And you know, even without a crunch, the market for new homes can’t keep growing faster than the population growth. Eventually everybody would own a home, and unlike cars, most people aren’t going to own multiple homes.
And the market for existing homes is static, in the sense that sales of existing homes don’t contribute to the economy. They are just transfers of property from one person to another. And they go up or down NOT solely on economic factors, but on mobility factors.
We had a GREAT run during the Bush years as more people than ever before were able to buy homes. We shouldn’t expect home ownership to keep shooting up, and in fact a lot of people have been spooked into sticking with rentals for now (also the prices of homes went up so much people couldn’t afford them anymore).
If we just get back to a constant percentage of people owning homes, since the population of the country isn’t growing any faster than in 1998, and since we are TRYING to kick 12 million people out of the country, we should EXPECT the sale of homes to drop BELOW the 1998 levels.
That “lost trillions in equity” argument is similar to the left claiming that Clinton had a surplus and W spent it all.
IT NEVER EXISTED!
But... you can’t get in the way of a good ol’ leftist whine, now, can you?
All they have been building in the burbs the last decades are huge overpriced houses for small families that require two incomes and two SUVs
I am surprised it has kept up as long as it has
“How does an 8-yr history qualify as “ever”?”
It’s a bad headline. It is trying to make bad news sound even worse. It sells.
And it is technically correct (but grossly missleading) when you read the explanation in the article.
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.