New Home sales fell by 7.7% in December. They were predicted to go up. We’ve got the lowest mortgage rates in the history of mankind and the entire freaking country of 115 million households has only 23,000 new homes sold in December???? Even better, only 10,000 of these homes are actually completed. The rest are either under construction or not even started. Still, the guy at Calculated Risk and the rest of the MSM try to sell you on some sort of housing recovery. Does he even look at his own charts? Can anyone show me a housing recovery in that chart?
New home sales are at the same level they were in 1981 when mortgage rates were 18% and the population was 229 million. Today we have 3.3% mortgage rates and a population of 315 million. Why are supposedly intelligent people so blind to the facts? There is no housing recovery. Artificial price increases have been created by inventory manipulation by Wall Street banks.
http://www.census.gov/construction/nrs/pdf/newressales.pdf
bluestem says:
Only 450 homes per state, that’s not good at all. John
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25th January 2013 at 10:50 am
Administrator says:
The “Undisputed Housing Recovery” Is Unmissable On This New Home Sales Chart
Submitted by Tyler Durden on 01/25/2013 10:23 -0500
We could bore readers with the just announced New Homes Sales data from the Census Bureau, which put a somewhat largish dent in the “undisputed” housing recovery fairytale taking place in America (perhaps in the Hamptons, and triplexes in Manhattan where the NAR continues to launder Chinese and Russian oligarch money) such as:
•December new homes sales, seasonally adjusted annualized, dropped from an upward revised 398K (was 377K) to 369K on expectations of a 385K print;
•That this was the biggest M/M drop since February 2011;
•That months supply rose from 4.5 to 4.9, the highest since January 2012;
•That on an unadjusted, actual basis, a tiny 26K houses were actually sold in December, compared to 24K last December, of which just 2K in the Northeast;
•That a whopping 1,000 houses were sold in the $750,000 and over category
•That houses for sale rose to 150K, the highest since December of 2011
•That the punditry already spun this as being due to lack of clarity over the Fiscal Cliff and tax hikes, when in reality with expectations of higher taxes, consumers would have spent more money on hard assets in December, but why not regurgitate generic stupidity…
Or we could just show this chart of the non-seasonally adjusted, unannualized New Home Sales in the past decade, and ask: just where is this recovery everyone keeps on talking about?
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25th January 2013 at 10:56 am
Bostonbob says:
Boston is in this strange twighlight zone that I do not think people around here understand. We live in a highly subsidized environment with the proliferaton of colleges, hospitals and defense industry. While there are many other good high tech companies and bio-tech companies, even many of these are indirectly subsidized. I-Robots largest contracts come from the military. There are a lot of highly educated (I use the term loosely) extremely liberal people in this state that live in the constant state of denial that this could possibly end badly. These are the same people who willingly give up there gun rights and submits te the vagaries of a highly intrusive government without so much as a peep. The company I work for, a private devlopment company had one of its best years ever. We definitely live in interesting times.
Thank you,
Bob.
Home sales record best year in Massachusetts since 2006.
By Brian Benson/Daily News staff
The MetroWest Daily News
Posted Jan 25, 2013 @ 12:02 AM
Single-family home sales in Massachusetts jumped 18 percent in 2012, marking the best year since 2006, and local real estate agents say the positive numbers are likely to continue into the new year
“It’s kind of a perfect storm,” said Sudbury real estate agent Mike Hunter. “What’s happened is a lot of people have pent up demand. … There’s a lot more confidence in the marketplace so that buyers are willing to finally step up. Sellers are very reasonable in their pricing.”
The Warren Group reported Thursday home sales statewide rose from 39,594 in 2011 to 46,887 last year, the highest number of sales since 2006. There were 50,724 sales in 2006, according to The Warren Group.
In MetroWest and Milford area, home sales grew about 20 percent from 2011 to 2012.
December also saw gains as single-family home sales rose 8 percent statewide from 3,410 in December 2011 to 3,688 in December 2012. The median sale price for single-family homes also rose last month, from $267,250 in December 2011 to $300,000 last month, according to The Warren Group.
Bill Gassett of RE/MAX Executive Realty in Hopkinton said prices are still well below what they were five or six years ago, creating a strong environment for buyers. Low interest rates have helped first-time home-buyers That has a trickle up effect, reaching other segments of the housing market, he said.
“Last year was good for a number of reasons,” Gassett said, noting he had his best year in 26 years in the industry. “The economy is staring to get better. Interest rates have been at record (low) levels. People’s job security is getting a little better.”
Gassett said he expects 2013 to be another strong year provided the economy doesn’t turn significantly worse.
Leo Fantini of Massachusetts Real Estate Group in Bellingham agreed, noting demand is greater than supply and buyers need to act quickly.
Fantini said sellers do not expect their homes to sell for as much money as they might have six years ago.
“Things are moving forward in terms of home sales,” he said.
Fantini said he has also seen gains in condominium sales.
Condominium sales rose more than 25 percent in 2012 from 15,191 in 2011 to 19,061 in 2012. Last year saw the most condo sales statewide since 2008, according to The Warren Group.
Read more: http://www.metrowestdailynews.com/news/x1058236428/Home-sales-record-best-year-in-Massachusetts-since-2006#ixzz2J0FT7Ecj
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25th January 2013 at 11:07 am
efarmer says:
Admin,
Dammit. I saw CBS news last night and they told me there was good news in housing starts. They may not have shown any charts or quoted any statistics, but, hey, I believe them. It has to be true because the told me so.
So knock it off with all your facts.
EF
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25th January 2013 at 11:27 am
Welshman says:
Admin.,
I’m with Efarmer, thing are wonderful, knock it off. Next thing will be a shortage of retail square footage.
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25th January 2013 at 11:55 am
Pete says:
Why buy and be a dumb-ass like me and pay your mortgage when you can squat?
Squatter Occupies Bank Of America-Owned $2.5 Million Boca Raton Mansion, Hilarity Ensues
http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2013-01-24/squatter-occupies-bank-america-owned-25-million-boca-raton-mansion-hilarity-ensues
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25th January 2013 at 1:56 pm
AWD says:
Taking the MSM word over admin? Not good cyber hygiene…
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25th January 2013 at 2:03 pm
efarmer says:
AWD,
You are right, don’t know what came over me. I was such an ass……… EF
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25th January 2013 at 3:11 pm
JJ3 says:
All I know is that I just bought a new house $178k for 3000 sq foot with (and this is key) access to a waterway with lots of fish – IE food source, when it goes down. Also on about an acre of land.
Do I think the house prices are going to drop back down? Probably, but hell since I know that the government is hell bent on inflating away their debt, I might as well let them inflate mine away as well. Besides, I think it will be better to live in a bigger house, out in the boonies, very close to a river for when it does go down.
So yes, I’m ready for the collapse.
JJ3
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25th January 2013 at 3:36 pm
JJ3 says:
The ironic part is that my last house I just moved out of I bought for $204k – 2000 sq feet at about the top of the market, in 2008. And yes that was before I started reading this site. LOL
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25th January 2013 at 3:37 pm
DaveL says:
So JJ3 did the house you sold sell for more than the $204 you paid for it?
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25th January 2013 at 4:17 pm
todd says:
efarmer
that is an outstanding ass.
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25th January 2013 at 8:32 am