HOME PRICES DROP FOR 5TH STRAIGHT MONTH

More negative news from the housing market came out today in the home sales and prices report issued by the National Association of Realtors this morning.

From Reuters via USA Today:

The pace of existing home sales fell in January to a 4.89 million unit annual rate, lowest level in nearly a decade, while prices slid and inventories swelled, the National Association of Realtors said Monday.

The median price of a single-family home — half sold for more, half for less — slid below $200,000 to $198,700 the report says.

The inventory of homes for sale rose 5.5% to 4.19 million units at the end of January, which represents about 10.3 months' supply at the current sales pace. The national median home price fell 4.6% from a year ago to $201,100.

The drop in sales and the fifth straight decline in prices underscored the continued pressure facing housing, which is struggling to emerge from its worst slump in a quarter-century.

HOME PRICES AND SALES FELL IN 2007

In what some are calling the first housing median price drop since the Great Depression (records don't exist to accurately go back further than the last 1960s), housing sales were down 13% in 2007 - the biggest dip in 25 years. While the percentage drop from 2006 to 2007 was small (1.4%), the pain felt is greater because prices fell dramtically in late 2007. For December, the median price fell a record 6% to $208,400. The median price in 2006 was $221,900.

For more, check out the following article:

Home Sales Plummeted 13% in 2007 - USA Today

MORE BAD NEWS FOR EXISTING HOMES IN OCTOBER

From Reuters:

Existing home sales fell 1.2 percent in October to a record low 4.97 million-unit pace, according to a report on Wednesday that showed the downturn in the U.S. housing market was deepening.

Home prices fell at a record pace and the inventory of homes for sales increased as the housing market felt the pinch of tighter lending standards.

The median existing home price fell 5.1 percent from a year ago to $207,800 and the total housing inventory rose 1.9 percent in October to 4.45 million existing homes for sale, a 10.8 month supply at the current sales pace.

The sales pace was the lowest since the realty trade group began tracking both single-family and condo sales jointly in 1999.

PENDING EXISTING HOME SALES LOWEST SINCE 2001

From USA Today:

Pending sales of existing homes, a leading indicator for the housing sector, fell in July to the lowest level in nearly six years as borrowers struggled to finalize home purchases, particularly in expensive areas.

The National Association of Realtors said its seasonally adjusted index of pending home sales for July fell 16.1% from a year ago and 12.2% from the prior month.

A home sale is listed as pending when the contract has been signed but the transaction has not closed. The sale usually closes within months of signing.

Some home purchases aren't closing because mortgage loans have been "falling through at the last moment," Lawrence Yun, the Realtors trade group's senior economist, said in a statement.

"Numbers like this should put to rest the belief that we've reached the bottom" in the housing market, said Joel Naroff, chief economist for Commerce Bancorp. "There's still a lot of pain that's ahead of us."

MORE BAD NEWS FOR HOUSING MARKET

From USA Today:

Sales of existing homes dropped for a fifth straight month in July, falling to the slowest annual pace in nearly five years, while home prices fell for a record 12th consecutive month.

The National Association of Realtors reported that sales of existing homes dipped 0.2% last month to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 5.75 million units.

The median price of a home sold last month slid to $230,200, down 0.6% from the median price a year ago. It marked the 12th consecutive month that home prices have declined compared with a year ago, an all-time high.

The inventory of homes for sale rose 5.1% to 4.59 million, representing 9.6 months worth of supply at the current sales pace.

NEW HOME SALES FALL, MEDIAN PRICE INCREASES

Sales of new homes fell 3.2% in October, after increasing the previous two months, according to the Commerce Department. Over the past year, sales have fallen 25.4%. The median price for a new home rose 1.9% from October 2005, the biggest increase since February. In October, there were 558,000 new homes for sale, a seven-month supply.

Forbes

MIXED RESULTS FOR EXISTING HOME SALES

The National Association of Realtors by 0.5% in October, the first increase since February, as buyers were lured by falling prices, the third consecutive monthly price drop. The median price for all existing homes fell 3.5% when compared to October of 2005, the largest decrease since the NAR began keeping records in 1968. This is also the first time that existing prices have fallen for three consecutive months.

Prices in the South fell the furthest, dipping 7%. Florida caused a huge drag on the region with a whopping 22% decrease in prices from October 2005.

USA Today
Reuters
WSJ.com
Forbes