U.S. New-Home Sales Fell in December to Lowest Level on Record

[TomClash]

Source: Bloomberg

U.S. New-Home Sales Fell in December to Lowest Level on Record

By Bob Willis

Jan. 29 (Bloomberg) -- Sales of new homes in the U.S. fell in December to the lowest level on record after banks tightened lending and job losses mounted.

Purchases dropped a more-than-forecast 15 percent to an annual pace of 331,000, the lowest level since at least 1963, according to a report from the Commerce Department today in Washington. Other reports showed orders for durable goods slumped for a fifth month and a record number of Americans were collecting jobless benefits.

The drop in home purchases indicates the housing slump at the center of the global credit crisis and economic downturn will persist well into 2009. President Barack Obama has pledged to stem foreclosures and boost job creation to break the longest recession in a quarter century.

``We're still in the middle of a severe decline in the housing market,'' Ethan Harris, co-head of U.S. research at Barclays Capital Inc. in New York, said before the report. ``The escalation of the capital-market crisis this past fall caused a reacceleration in the problems in housing. People are holding back on buying with the increase in the uncertainty about the economy.''

Economists forecast new home sales would drop to a 397,000 pace, according to the median forecast in a Bloomberg survey of 70 economists. Estimates ranged from 345,000 to 412,000. Commerce revised the November sales pace down to 388,000 from the 407,000 rate previously reported.

Read more: http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601087&sid=alipKvn3NBxg&refer=home

[jazzjunkysue]

1. But will it really stop real estate speculation? No.

Local counties have to stop awarding building permits, if we're ever going to bring the market back up. as long as more builders put new homes on the market, old ones go unwanted and the glut brings everyone's value down.

If we're serious about fixing the economy, start with all the empty homes in florida and get them sold before another one is built. The entire effing state has a for sale sign on it.