US Home Sales Fall; Properties For Sale At Record High

[Purveyor]

Source: AFP

Sales of existing US homes declined unexpectedly in May, dashing expectations that the struggling real estate market would show an uptick in sales, an industry survey showed Monday.

The National Association of Realtors (NAR) said existing home sales dropped 0.3 percent to an annualized pace of 5.99 million last month.

--
Experts say tighter mortgage lending standards and mounting home foreclosures have also impacted the market.

The report also showed that the number of homes for sale across the United States continued to rise last month, increasing five percent from April to a record inventory of 4.43 million properties. That represents an 8.9-month supply at the current sales pace, according to the NAR.


Read more: http://www.turkishpress.com/news.asp?id=182541&s=&i=&t=US_home_sales_fall;_properties_for_sale_at_record_high

[SpiralHawk]

1. "oh well, you can't blame us republicons - smirk, smirk, smirk" - Commander AWOL

"I mean, we republicons have a plan to profit massively from this collapse of the housing market, so don't fret about us

"Oh yeah, almost forgot my talking point of the day: too bad about you little people - Now sit down and shut up"

- Commander AWOL

[closeupready]

13. :D Thanks for the laugh - I don't know why, but

the mental image of him smirking about human misery gave me the first good laugh in a long time. :hi: (which, I know, it shouldn't, but it's darkly humorous.)

[xchrom]

2. great -- just great -- and i wanna sell.

timing is everything:eyes:

[Warpy]

3. Better resign yourself to staying put

Right now it's a speculator's panic. It will be a seller's panic when people start getting transferred or want to downsize and retire.

Housing has been overbuilt in too many areas (my own included) to satisfy a market of people who thought of real estate as an investment and were looking for quick, big bucks. Woops.

I'm afraid we're going to see a lot of small down, assume existing mortgage home sales before this one is over.

[xchrom]

7. i'm in the bay area -- so i'm not too worried.

things are taking a little longer but still moving.

i'm just not going to get the wonderful price of a few years ago.

but -- prices will be sort of down in the area where i want to move.
but -- damn it -- it's a ''hot'' area too.

[Zynx]

12. Patience, we are just about half way through this correction.

It still has plenty of room to go and properties will be cheaper in your area.

[xchrom]

18. i hope so. that would make me happy to

sell this place and get new place for a good price.

[Gormy Cuss]

15. Around here the market health seems very localized.

My county (Contra Costa)isn't doing well but Lamorinda and other parts of central county seem to be fine, with longer time on market but sales at or above listing price. The market seems better right now than it was six months ago but that may be a seasonal effect.

[xchrom]

17. i'm on the oakland/piedmont border

and things are in some taking longer -- but certainly still seem to be selling.

and i really haven't noticed much in a reduction in prices.

my problem may come when i get to durham -- which is a place that seems to be hot right now.
though certainly not the prices we see here -- but certainly climbing -- and that is my reason for moving.

[dansolo]

27. I moved almost a year ago, and my home still hasn't sold

I should have realized what was going on in the market, and listed my home lower than I did. I've dropped my price, and finally there is some hints of potential buyers. I've had to eat the cost of my mortgage interest, insurance, property taxes, and utilities, while paying for an apartment where I moved to.

[Delphinus]

4. I looked around four blocks in my neighborhood

yesterday, and on one short block, there were two that were "abandonded". And one across the street. And one on my block.

I live in a very ethnically mixed, diverse, working class neighborhood. These are not McMansions - most are ranches, three bedroom, probably all less than 1,200 sq.ft. I wonder how many more are going to be in that situation - just walk away?

[LiberalEsto]

5. My neighborhood is a good example

Usually the houses in my neighborhood sell very fast, because we're conveniently located for public transit and the 40-year-old houses are much less expensive than new construction.

On two blocks neighboring our street, there are four perfectly nice houses that have been languishing on the market for months. Two years ago, there would have been bidding wars over these houses.

People are tapped out. Income is stagnating, and increasing numbers of jobs are vanishing overseas or going to people from other countries with H1-B visas. The younger generation is up to its collective ass in student loan debt. Increasing gas and food and utility prices have eaten into disposable and savable income.

As usual, the U.S. economy stinks for the average American during periods of Rethug control.

[NastyDiaper]

6. Lost Equity Sux.

On the other hand, now's the time swap up. If you can afford the higher interest rates.

[Robb]

14. Still gotta sell something, tho'. nt

[roamer65]

8. We are only seeing the beginning of a crisis.

I really believe that the housing downturn will eventually be compared to the 1929 stock market crash. Bernanke is between a rock and a hard place. Defend the dollar, or defend the housing market. I think he'll choose the dollar.

[Wcross]

9. Check this link out!

http://ml-implode.com/

Plenty of doom and gloom info on the collapse of the bubble. Predictions of a 20% drop in "value".

[cliss]

10. Black clouds on the horizon.

And the first raindrops have started falling.

I also believe we are headed for one Monster housing crash. It's going to take a lot of people by surprise. I think most people realize that some kind of correction is coming.

But when your house is worth 10 cents on the dollar? I don't think they were counting on that.

[BrokenBeyondRepair]

11. suckers...

[tanyev]

16. More of that smokin' GOP economy.

[dysfunctional press]

19. we've had our chicago two-flat for sale since february...

we've lowered the price once, added a bedroom, and we're finally seeing some action- we've got an offer we've accepted that has a contingency- but we're expecting two non-contingent offers to be coming in sometime in the next few days.

here's the place:
http://www.goeverson.com/

[ozone_man]

20. This will dominate the news for the next five years.

Every year a greater number of forecosures and lower real estate prices. We're still looking at the tip of the ice berg, unaware of what lies beneath.

[lovuian]

21. I agree this is looking like beginning of recession

and very tough times ahead

[roamer65]

24. Yup, inflationary recession like 1974-75.

The real inflation rate, calculated by pre-1980 standards is running at 10.3%. Bernanke is in a real pickle right now.

[ozone_man]

29. Or it could turn into a deflationary depression.

It looks inflationary at this point, especially with real estate and stock market prices overvalued, and with dollar devaluation, but I wonder if deflation could kick in when things finally roll over.

[kurtyboy]

22. If you think this is bad, Wait until next month...

The May numbers are pretty much prior to the big runup in interest rates. The big spike happened in June, and that was as about $25 billion in sub-prime ARMs reset. It won't get any better next month, or the month after, if mortgage rates remain high. There are increasing numbers of sub-prime ARM resets through November of this year, peaking at about $35 billion resetting in the month of November. Oh, and combine those with the other ARMs (Alt-A, Prime, Option, Agency, and Unsecuritzed), and you'll see aggregate resets exceeding thirty billion dollars per month for about the next year-and-a-half. I doubt Bernanke has nards to lower the discount rate in the face of raises by all of the other Central Banks in the world. So....

At an average of $40bn/mo. resetting, with mortgage rates holding steady or, more likely, increasing, the table is set for even bigger inventories, at even lower prices.

An example for our future--

About five blocks north of where I live (Washington DC), a house came on the market 17 days ago. It is bank-owned (they've used the euphemism "corporate-owned"), partially gutted (bought by a flipper who failed), and in a transitional neighborhood. From this house it is about a three block stroll to Union Station, and the home is in the shadow of one of the largest condominium projects in the city (Senate Square). It's tax assessment is $465k. The bank listed for $399k. After six days without action, the bank dropped to $339k--nothing happened. The bank waited two more days and dropped to $329k--still nothing. The bank dropped the price to $299k on Saturday--It still shows as active in the MLS. I would imagine the bank will take the first living, breathing offer within 20% of their current ask, since they've dropped $100k in just over two weeks. Oh, did I mention that it is a residence that that is also zoned for light commercial? Yummy--but nobody wants it.

Look for much, much more of the same in the months to come.

[lonestarnot]

25. 50k sounds like a good price. Teehee.

[redqueen]

30. geez!

i've been hoping this bubble deflates slowly so we have a nice, soft landing

if that little anecdote of yours proves to be not so anecdotal... :scared:

[CabalPowered]

23. Blood bath

are the operative words around here.

[Codeine]

26. Greedy motherfuckers

wanted more house than they could afford. Fuck 'em.

[SpiralHawk]

28. = republicons

fer sure

All republicons care about is profiteering, and they have disgraced themselves in their slopping at the trough