Home Sales Data Just Released…Must Read.
Special report for HREU Students. This is the latest information about home sales. Use this information to better educate yourself and your buyers and sellers.
Remember, there has never been a time in the history of our country when caring, competent and skilled agents have been so needed. This is not a sellers market, despite what you have been told this is NOT a buyers market….this is an Agents market. This is your market. Learn the skills necessary and you will thrive beyond your wildest dreams. Start with learning and the earning always follows.
The two-year U.S. housing slump showed no sign of abating in March as sales of previously owned homes fell for the seventh time in eight months.
Purchases dropped 2 percent, less than forecast, to an annual rate of 4.93 million, from 5.03 million in February, the National Association of Realtors said today in Washington. The median sales price declined 7.7 percent from a year earlier.
The jump in subprime defaults and credit-market losses has caused banks to demand higher down payments and increased income documentation for home loans. Many legislators are now suggesting new laws that require buyers to put down at least 20% on home purchases.
A separate measure of home values published by the government’s Office of Federal Housing Enterprise Oversight showed that sales prices dropped 2.4 percent in February from a year earlier. The monthly house price index is down 3.1 percent from its peak in April 2007.
“The housing downturn continues in full swing,” Mark Zandi, chief economist at Moody’s Economy.com in West Chester, Pennsylvania. “Potential home buyers are sitting on the sidelines. They do sense that prices are going to go down further. We’re still a good six, 12 months away before we see buyers come in.”
Bank of America Corp., the nation’s second-biggest bank, said today it plans to curtail low-documentation loans and restrict credit to some borrowers after taking over Countrywide Financial Corp. Yesterday, the bank said profit fell for a third straight quarter as it set aside $6.01 billion for bad loans.
The number of homes for sale at the end of March increased by 40,000 to 4.06 million. At the current sales pace, that represented 9.9 months’ worth, up from 9.6 months’ worth at the end of the prior month.
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Median Price
The median price of an existing home dropped to $200,700 from $217,400 a year earlier.
Many economists consider new-home purchases, which are recorded when a contract is signed, a more timely barometer of the market.
Figures from the Commerce Department later this week may show sales of new houses fell in March to an annual pace of 580,000, a 13-year low.
Resales of single-family homes fell 2.7 percent to an annual rate of 4.35 million. Sales of condos and co-ops increased 3.6 percent to a 580,000 rate.
Housing Starts
Falling sales are prompting builders to pare back construction and reduce prices. Work began on 947,000 homes at an annual rate in March, less than forecast and the fewest in 17 years, Commerce figures showed last week.
We are hearing reports from our coaching clients that new home builders in their markets are now knocking down unfinished homes vs completing them.
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Residential construction has subtracted from economic growth since the first three months of 2006, culminating in a 25 percent decline in homebuilding last year that was the biggest since 1980.
