New Home Sales Tumble, Prices Decline
Sep 27th, 2007 at 10:29 am by Susie
WASHINGTON — New-home sales resumed falling in August, sinking to the lowest level in seven years, and prices tumbled, signaling the housing sector will remain a drag on the U.S. economy.
Sales of single-family homes decreased by 8.3% last month to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 795,000, the Commerce Department said Thursday. July new-home sales rose 3.8% to an annual rate to 867,000; originally, the government said July sales rose by 2.8% to 870,000.
The median estimate of 26 economists surveyed by Dow Jones Newswires was a 4.6% decline in August sales to an 830,000 annual rate.
UPDATE: Here’s some more.
There is a bright side to this, the slowing of urban sprawl. Maybe it will be enough of a pause so the laws can be adapted to better plan and control the future growth.
A few more months of this, and there’s going to be a lot of pain going around. At work I’ve noticed quite a few “For Sale” signs from motorcycle owners on the bulletin boards. It used to be that people kept refinancing their mortgages — and these are relatively comfortable, two-earner families — just to sustain their living standard and pay bills. Since they can’t tap into their nonexistent equity growth anymore, they’re starting to sell assets. First the Harleys. What next?
It probably will come down to Schrute Bucks (thanks for stopping by).
Next, the Strats.