New home sales fell in August for 4th month

The fourth straight monthly decline during the peak buying season suggests the housing market is years away from a recovery. That's less than half the roughly 700,000 that economists say must be sold to sustain a healthy housing market. Each home built creates an average of three jobs for a year and generates about $90,000 in taxes, according to the National Association of Home Builders. It followed five straight years of record highs, when housing was booming. That suggests builders are slashing their prices in order to compete with comparably lower-priced previously occupied homes. Those homes are selling at an average discount of 20 percent, and they are lowering neighboring home values. That's made many re-sales a bargain compared with new homes, creating an average 30 percent disparity in prices. Home construction is down nearly 6 percent over the past year. Builders may be preparing to start dormant project once the economy improves. The August sales pace for previously occupied homes was 5. That's slightly above last year's sales, which were the fewest since 1997. Economists say roughly 6 million older homes need to be sold each year to sustain a healthy housing market. It took 19 years for prices to fully recover after the Depression. You can no longer afford the home you are in, but maybe you can afford another home the bank is sitting on. This way it saves consumers credit and helps to not have all these bank own homes sitting around deteriorating. Then there will be another bubble burst and the whole foreclosure / bankrupt cycle will repeat. Yes, we fought to free the slave as part of the fact they wanted to keep their laws including slavery but also the taxation at the times for products sold in the south. I see in the pictures of this ladies house she also has the American flag. As this economy drags on lower and lower and the government is no longer able to fudge the unemployment numbers, the zeitgeist of our time will hit the general consensus like a lightening bolt. Ellimay Yesterday 19 years for home prices to recover after the Depression. Charles Yesterday " I just bought a house 15K under market value and got a deal. The result is that many are now suffering from poor to fair credit score ratings or have no money for the larger down-payments now required and the banks are only lending to those with very good or perfect credit score ratings to purchase a home. And the majority of those with very good to perfect credit score ratings already have a home. The new homes are ridiculous in size and ridiculous in price and until builders stop trying to make it rich off a couple homes, they need to get realistic. Herb Yesterday Until the glut of presently-contructed and lived-in Homes for Sale diminishes, new home sales are going to be flat. The deals are out there and home buyers are going to take advantage of them. All the foreclosures depressed the entire home market. Once those were gone, used home sales picked up, albeit with depressed prices. After that market came into line with demand, new home sales picked up. Charles Yesterday Look at that picture of the home at the top of the article. The problem with home builders in this country is they have not become creatrive like many in Europe, Japan and other countries where they are getting creative and building 1,200 and 1,500 sq. Now how many trying to get into a home can afford such prices especially now that money is tight and lenders are not lending. People who bought houses they could not afford, and some who could afford them were laid off, so some are losing their houses. The stock market plunged at the beginning of the recession (excessively so), then raised dramatically (excessively so), and lately has had significant bounces up and down whenever some one in the world sneezes. The grass is still green, the sky blue and chocolate pudding still tastes good. Stay in touch with what is going on and make decisions accordingly. Stan Yesterday Home prices were driven by greed and easy mortgages. We all thought that we should buy as much house as we could, take out a second mortgage to spend on toys and vacations and repeat the process every five years. Home prices are still 50% over valued and they will continue to fall. Stan Yesterday Maybe instead of making payments on a $250,000 on a new 3500 SF house, we should be buying a 40 year old $45,000 1100 SF house with cash. May take a few years renting but you could save the money if you wanted to. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. Homes for Sale