Did you see the latest information on the housing market? It is not good and it’s now obvious the lower rates have basically failed in getting buyers back into the market. The November 2008 data shows that home sales are now the lowest they have been in a decade.
Existing home sales plunged to a rate of 4.49 million last month, down 8.6 percent from October, and worse than economists predicted. Total sales, not calculated as an annual rate, fell 17 percent in November from a year earlier to 322,000, the National Association of Realtors said.
The median sales price tumbled 13 percent to $181,300, the largest decline since record-keeping began 40 years ago.
What I find to be the most disturbing aspect of this report is in that sentence – the median sales price has tumbled roughly 13%. This means your property value, if you happen to own, continues drop. As the property values continue to drop, the mortgage crisis will continue to worsen.
It is true that some people who wanted to refi are doing so, but that impact is minimal as it stands right now. It is also important to note that the home sales numbers are lagging indicators, so the market may be improving at this moment, but based on other economic indicators I bet nothing is improving.
Update: Calculated Risk has a great write-up of the Housing Data and it turns out that one uses the ratio of owner occupied units the data collected is the lowest since 1963.
Related posts:
- Since we are talking about the fall of retail REITs, look at the hotel industry.
- Sept. US auto sales fall amid clunkers letdown
- Mortgage applications plummet 13.7%
- Toyota delays U.S. assembly plant that was to make Prius, but shows how balanced it is as a company.
- Oil prices could not have fallen at a worse time…