Existing-home prices fall for 1st time in 11 years

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Existing-home prices fall for 1st time in 11 years
Sales drop 0.5% in August to lowest pace since January 2005
WASHINGTON (MarketWatch) -- Median sales prices of existing homes fell from year-ago levels in August for the first time in 11 years and just the sixth time in the past 38 years, the National Association of Realtors said Monday.
Sales of existing homes fell 0.5% in August to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 6.30 million, the industry group said.
Sales have fallen five months in a row and in nine of the past 12 months. Sales are down 12.6% in the past year. It's the lowest sales pace since January 2004.
The median price of an existing home fell 1.7% year-over-year to $225,000. It's the first time since April 1995 that median prices have fallen on a year-over-year basis. It's the second largest decline in the 38-year history of the realtors' survey, exceeded only by a 2.1% drop in November 1990.
The price correction is a welcome development," said David Lereah, chief economist for the realtors group.
"The price drop has stopped the bleeding," Lereah said. "Sales have hit bottom," he said. "Sellers are finally getting it."
"I am confident the housing sector is picking up," Lereah said in a press conference. Lereah expects prices to continue to drop for the rest of the year, which would keep sales from falling further.
"If that's so, we'll have achieved a soft landing," Lereah said.
Economists were expecting sales to decline to about 6.18 million in August, according to a survey conducted by MarketWatch. See Economic Calendar.
Inventories of unsold homes rose 1.5% to 3.92 million, a 7.5-month supply at the August sales pace, the most since April 1993.
Sales of single family homes were unchanged at a 5.51 million annual pace. Condo sales fell 3.5% to 793,000.
Sales fell 2.3% in the West and 0.8% in the South. Sales rose 1.9% in the Northeast and 0.7% in the Midwest.
Lereah said the sales fell in the West because sellers still have not adjusted their expectations on prices. Median prices are up 0.3% in the past year in the West to $345,000.
The Commerce Department will report on new-home sales for August on Wednesday. Economists expect sales to fall about 3.4% in August to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 1.036 million, which would be the lowest since April 2003. As of July, sales of new homes had fallen 21.6% in the past year, while inventories of unsold new homes had soared 22.4%. See Economic Preview.
 
Yeah. I saw this today too!

Good stuff. I went house hunting this weekend too. For the first time I can ever remember, there has been an updated single family home on the market (move-in condition) for under $300K. I swear the prices are falling by hte week too around here.
 
good thing for me.

Actually, I think in the long run its good for America. First time homebuyers are pretty much locked out of the market.
 
But what about those who bought and maxxed out mortgage and now their house might be worth less than their mortgage ?
 
It sucks for them if they are trying to sell anytime soon.
But there is a good chunk of america that have been anxiously awaiting a fall in the market! our time is here!
 
Bust should you buy now or wait till the 1 in 1000 houses now in repossession proceedings hits the market ?
And who says it is finished falling ? You could wind up in the same boat.
 
I know. That's why I'd try to get something under market price or at the very least make sure that I could afford a loss of 20% market value short term. A lot of the people that are going to get burned were trying to live way past their means with these creative arms. If they and banks hadn't gone along with it, we wouldn't be teetering a big housing market fall (at least by my predictions anyway given income increases, cost of living increases and home prices etc)
 
Good , LadyT, sounds like you have a plan.
And I agree with you, we are in the generation of maxxed credit.
 
Part of the reason for the rise in housing prices is the rise in materials to build.
Lumber prices have gone up primarily because of left-wing environmentalists and Liberal Democrat reps/governors who restrict logging and the supply of lumber:


"Then there's the materials costs. Whereas concrete prices have remained steady relative to inflation, lumber prices have fluctuated wildly, and mostly up. Local, state and federal governments have moved to protect old growth forests, cutting into an already dwindling lumber supply and spiking up lumber prices. According to Eugene, Ore.-based Random Lengths, a group that tracks lumber prices, the price of the framing lumber used to build a typical wood frame home has increased from $203 in 1985 to $459 per 1,000 board feet in June 1999. This increase is nearly two and a half times the rate of inflation."
http://rockproducts.com/mag/rock_concrete_results_residential/index.html

It is unneeded protection when you consider that the number of trees has been increasing since the 1920's when the majority of people abandoned wood as their primary source of heating and went to oil/gas.
 
LOL, well lumber prices are dropping fast here, because of the housing slowdown and in spite of rebuilding after Katrina. Plywood down 25% here since April.
I guess all the huggers are gone too huh ?
 
bscitizen said:
LOL, well lumber prices are dropping fast here, because of the housing slowdown and in spite of rebuilding after Katrina. Plywood down 25% here since April.
I guess all the huggers are gone too huh ?
Click to expand...
No dolt, because housing market is declining you would have building materials (like lumber) declining too because of surplus in supply (stockpiling).

It is ludicrous to pretend that restricting supply (which IS what environmentalist Liberal Dems do for lumber) would not have put upward pressure on the price. It goes against basic laws of supply and demand, but go ahead and state some other little bscitizen observation and pretend it passes for an argument...
 
bscitizen said:
How can anyone trust your posts when you edit the quote Danodemento ?
Click to expand...
I did that as a joke to piss Insaineman off and I admitted changing it.
Don't trust me, look at the link if you want.

Fuck you're annoying, every town has that one old fucker who doesn't trust any single fact of any kind, he's got to argue every fucking thing - that would be you. What a waste of life, most people quit doing that when they're 10...
 
TheDanold said:
Part of the reason for the rise in housing prices is the rise in materials to build.
Lumber prices have gone up primarily because of left-wing environmentalists and Liberal Democrat reps/governors who restrict logging and the supply of lumber:


"Then there's the materials costs. Whereas concrete prices have remained steady relative to inflation, lumber prices have fluctuated wildly, and mostly up. Local, state and federal governments have moved to protect old growth forests, cutting into an already dwindling lumber supply and spiking up lumber prices. According to Eugene, Ore.-based Random Lengths, a group that tracks lumber prices, the price of the framing lumber used to build a typical wood frame home has increased from $203 in 1985 to $459 per 1,000 board feet in June 1999. This increase is nearly two and a half times the rate of inflation."
http://rockproducts.com/mag/rock_concrete_results_residential/index.html

It is unneeded protection when you consider that the number of trees has been increasing since the 1920's when the majority of people abandoned wood as their primary source of heating and went to oil/gas.
Click to expand...


Let me get this straight. In the second paragraph you claim that : " Local, state and federal governments have moved to protect old growth forests, cutting into an already dwindling lumber supply and spiking up lumber prices.


Then you claim this: "the number of trees has been increasing since the 1920's."

How could it be possible for the number of trees to be increasing and the amount of lumber available to be dwindling.


And do you have a web site or link that stipulates just how these things could be true and the number of trees could actually be increasinfg and by how much. Because from what I can see around me, many places that were forested forty years ago are no longer, and not only are they no longer forested but many of them are housing developments and they are not going to ever produce timber again. So prove this rather counter-intuitive statement, that, of course, flies in the face of your rather logical and previous argument.
 
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uscitizen said:
Good , LadyT, sounds like you have a plan.
And I agree with you, we are in the generation of maxxed credit.
Click to expand...

People are maxed out beyond reason. I'm banking on their stupidity to get myself something nice in the future. I can tell you from anectdotes of my own experience that there is really going to be a tumble in the market (in this area at least). Unless you're ridiculously poor, the underwriters are giving people just about anything they ask for, its ridiculous.
 
Actually, an AP article I read today said that August marked the fifth consecutive month of decline in existing home prices.

Where I live there's a lot of land available and it's being snapped up by developers. People in the city seem to feel that they've outgrown their homes, or want to upgrade, and there are few enough existing "upgraded" houses available. Many were built in the '60s or '70s and reflect the styles of that time. People would rather build new, with new wiring, plumbing, etc., than purchase an existing house and spend the difference upgrading it themselves (and living with the inconvenience of doing so). What has been happening here for years is that their old houses in town remain unsold, and frequently can't be rented either (and let's forego the pleasure of considering the joys of being a landlord!). So they end up saddled with two mortgages and not much relief in sight. On top of that, the city's water problem, dismissed for years by the former mayor, has become acute and water rationing is now in full effect. (We have an average of 18.4 in./year).

We moved here 12 years ago, took a short-term loan and paid off the house a couple of years ago. Wouldn't have it any other way.
 
I guess those copper huggers have driven a 250' roll of 12-2 w g wire from about $35 in April to $ 80 2 days ago here in the same store ?
Those darn copper huggers.
 
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