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| Currency | US Dollar |
|---|---|
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| Canadian Dollar to US Dollar | 0.945090 |
Existing-home sales hit 8-month high
Inventories fall, adding hopes that the housing market is starting to recover.
Existing-home sales rose 3.6% in June to an annualized pace of 4.86 million, to the highest level since October, the National Association of Realtors reported this morning.
It was the third monthly increase in a row. "This represents yet another encouraging sign that the housing market is beginning to stabilize," Nomura Securities chief economist David Resler wrote in a note to clients.
Economists had expected an annualized pace of 4.85 million last month. Sales are down 0.2% from June of 2008.
Inventories fell 0.7% to 3.82 million in June. At the current sales pace, it would take 9.4 months to sell homes on the market, an improvement from the 9.8 months in May.
A 7-month supply is typically consistent with stabilization in prices, NAR chief economist Lawrence Yun, said in a press conference. It may take until the end of this year or early 2010 before property values steady, Yun added.
So who's buying? Tax incentives are helping spark resale activity in lower-priced homes. The supply of homes under $250,000 is under a six-month supply, while the supply of homes over $1 million is over 20 months.
That excess supply is contributing to the slump in home prices. The median price of an existing home fell 15.4% to $181,800 from $215,000 in June 2008.
June is traditionally one of the best sales months of the year as families prepare to move before the start of the next school term, according to the NAR. The group adjusts the figures for these seasonal variations, however.
Home sales peaked in August 2005 at an annualized rate of more than 7.2 million. Sales have not topped the 5 million mark since last September.
http://www.isearchbusiness.com
Real estate brokers and agents have a vested interest in convincing you the bottom has passed so that we can get more buyers into the market. The year over year numbers are what tell the real tale, not intra-year numbers. Wait til you see Novembers numbers, my crystal ball says they are going to be heading south.
Calibroker: They use an algorithm to take out the month to month 'variance' for high and low months.
And since you're a broker, seriously--why do we need your 'expertise' anyway? The main reason I'm not selling right now is because I know I'm going to just hand over $20K to realtors--but for what?--all you do is list the dang thing in the database anyway. And don't feed me the "I know the neighborhoods and am a trained negotiator" line.
www.homemortgage-hq.com
I have been in Real Estate for 38 years. I sold a 6 office Prudential franchise with 200 Realtors 3 1/2 years ago and I now own a NATIONAL INTERNET BASED REAL ESTATE BROKERAGE with several hundred Realtors. I also write nationally on a weekly basis. Please ignore most of the above comments. Bush didn't created the Real Estate bubble. It was noble goal started in the Clinton White House to have all Americans own their own homes. It was not a realistic goal. Several of the comments I can tell are from Realtors that made money in the good times but didn't develop their business, so when the market changed they failed.
The market is returning. That is a fact. Sales are up anywhere from 20% to 50% across the country depending on the area. Inventories are down. We are even experiencing price increases again. The bottom passed a while back. It's a shame when bad information by neophytes are reported.
As a former Realtor that went from $200,000 a year in commisions in Downers Grove, Il, and who had to sell my house that was worth $700,000 in March of 2006 for $350,000 in March of 2009 I have the soundest advice for everyone.
The National Association of Realtors projects a 12% to 14% decline in housing prices in the next 12 months. Recessions take years to recover, not months.
It is realistic to assume that the price of any home will be 25% lower in the next 3 years.
If you want to buy a house, take the current appraised value and subtract at least 25%. If you don't, you will owe more than the house is worth 2 years from now.
The people that bought my house for $350,000 now have a house that they could sell for a loss of $20,000 to $30,000 after the mortgage, taxes and selling expenses.
I will buy my next house in 2011 when prices will be down at least 20%.
Gregory C Baloun
Another Victim Of Greedy Wall Street and Greedy Banks.
At least I get even by making the greedy banks eat the $1Million that I will never have to repay when I file bankruptcy
I guess it depends on where you are... There has been a flurry of buying activity in 'Vegas (it's considered a good place to invest, albeit it's still a risk). Also, the interest rates were pretty reasonable about a month or two ago (I got my property for 4.75% fixed for 30 years as a first-time buyer, AND the $8,000 tax credit which ACTUALLY IS a full-fledged credit this year, not an interest-free loan). People like me are finally willing to purchase because values are finally starting to make sense. I've been in town for 4 years, and been looking for a property since I got here. I chose not to buy for the past 4 years because I was SMART ENOUGH TO KNOW that it was a losing proposition. If more people had taken a step back and been a little smarter, we wouldn't even be in this mess, but at the same time, I wouldn't have gotten a property for a good deal either. I guess this had to happen eventually, though, because when buying a house, most people buy with their hearts rather than their heads.
Inventory of single-family homes in town has come down about 40-50% over the past year or so, and residential builders are even STARTING to see a little bit of action again... I know you will all probably think I'm full of it, but my livelihood is based upon construction, so you can bet that I've had my finger on the pulse of the local market. One of my friends was trying to convince me to buy back in January, but I insisted on waiting. There are a lot of good reasons why I finally decided to buy, and closed on my house a month ago...
StockScouter data provided by Gradient Analytics, Inc.
Quotes supplied by Interactive Data.
MSN Money's editorial goal is to provide a forum for personal finance and investment ideas. Our articles, columns, message board posts and other features should not be construed as investment advice, nor does their appearance imply an endorsement by Microsoft of any specific security or trading strategy. An investor's best course of action must be based on individual circumstances.
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