U.S. new home sales came in very negative for September. The sales fell 3.6% versus August sales and down 7.8% versus September 2008 , the Commerce Department is reporting.
The decline in new-home sales to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 402,000 contrasts with Sept. 2008 annual sales rate of 436,000. Further, new-home sales in August were revised to a 417,000 compared with the previous estimate of 429,000.
This is the first decline in new home sales after five consecutive monthly gains. The supply of homes on the market fell to 251,000 in September, which is the lowest level since November 1982. Median sales prices have fallen 9.1% in the past year to $204,800.
With the tax credit for first time buyers likely to be wound down, and the Fed not printing any money, the picture does not look positive for home sales. However, on a longer term basis the continued drop in inventory is a positive, but by no means a signal to rush out and buy a home.
I saw that this morning and what surprised me was that the article I saw reported that this somehow surprised everyone.
ReplyDeleteWhich tells me that somebody needs to come out of their ivory tower and walk the streets of good old USA for a bit.
Debt is flooding the streets and drowning lots of neighborhoods. Everyone is trying to bail themselves out of debt and save money. And many are looking at both real estate and the dollar and thinking that's not it right now.