Existing Home Sales Slip 5th Consec Month
WSJ: "Sales of existing homes fell in January for the fifth straight month, and the inventory of unsold homes rose, providing more evidence of weakening in the housing market.
The National Association of Realtors said sales of existing homes, which account for about 80% of the residential market, fell 2.8% from December to an annual rate of 6.56 million units. While prices were unchanged from December, the number of unsold homes increased 2.4% to 2.91 million, a 5.3-month supply that is the largest in almost eight years.
Compared with a year ago, the annual pace recorded in January was 5.2% slower, prices were up 11.6% and the supply of unsold homes jumped 43.2%. The recent trends indicate that the balance of power in the housing market, which clearly tipped in favor of sellers over the last few years as home values soared, is gradually shifting to buyers.
Condominium sales plummeted 10.6% from December, and the average sales price fell to $216,900 from $225,200 but was still 5.5% higher than a year ago. Sales of single-family homes slipped 1.5%, but the average price increased to $210,500, a 13.1% gain over the past year."
>
I'm runnin' late, so not much more to add (although, is further comment really necessary?)
>
Source:
Existing-Home Sales Fall Again;
Consumer Confidence Wanes
CHRISTOPHER CONKEY
WSJ, March 1, 2006; Page A2
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB114113234715585240.html
Wednesday, March 01, 2006 | 07:24 AM | Permalink
| Comments (1)
| TrackBack (0)
add to de.li.cious | 
digg this! | 
add to technorati | 
email this post
TrackBack
TrackBack URL for this entry:
https://www.typepad.com/services/trackback/6a00d8341c52a953ef00d834ad529369e2
Listed below are links to weblogs that reference Existing Home Sales Slip 5th Consec Month:
Comments
See this morning's LA Times which suggests "Almost-New Homes Hurt Sales of Brand-New Ones"
http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-builders1mar01,0,3673464.story?track=tottext
So that would mean that sales of "almost-new homes" is actually holding up the existing home sales figures. Moreover, what does that do for developers who may increasingly face price competition from recent buyers in their own developments (at least in an actual bubble market like California)?
Posted by: ross | Mar 1, 2006 7:51:53 AM
The comments to this entry are closed.
