Largest decline in new home sales in 9 years!

[Tim4319]

But the economy is doing so well!

<<snip>>
Commerce Department reports sales of new homes plunged by 10.5 percent in February, biggest setback in nearly nine years.

http://www.king5.com/business/stories/NW_032406BUBnewhomesalesJM.57bc8070.html

[KurtNYC]

1. In the immortal words of Scooby Doo:

"Rut row"

[tanyev]

2. Whaaaaa? How can that be?

This economy is smokin'! :smoke:

[MadHound]

3. Not suprising at all

All the signs of a deflating housing bubble have been there for months. It was a big red flag last fall when the largest builder of new homes, Toll Brothers, sold off lots of their own stock. They knew what was coming and decided to bail while the bailing was good.

For those of you thinking of buying, wait a year or so and you can pick up a great bargain. For those of you wanting to sell, either do it immediately or resign yourself to the fact that you're either not going to get the money out of the house that you thought you would, or have to sit on it for the next few years.

[Clark2008]

7. Depends on where you live.

Tennessee is several months behind that bell curve, so, what is happening California or New York isn't going to effect Tennessee for another year or so.

That's just an example.

[MadHound]

11. Being that CA and NY are a couple of the top markets

It sure as hell is going to effect the rest of the nation. And when the largest NATIONWIDE new home builder starts bailing, you know that rough times are ahead for the housing market across the country.

I live in Missouri, a state not known for a housing bubble, and yet I'm seeing homes now sitting vacant for months instead of weeks and days, in spite of several drops in the asking price. This is going to hit all over, and no state will be spared.

And the real scary part is that it's the housing market that has been sustaining our economy for the past few years. Once it goes, we're all screwed.

[newportdadde]

16. Also in Missouri - KC area

Your right its slowing, part of that is due to the winter months slow down of course but at the same time our weather for the most part has been mild(warmest Feb on record) and that hasn't seemed to help.

I first noticed the slow down actually towards the end of last summer. Now I'm starting to see new housing still promoted heavily and appearing to be empty.

Hey not sure what its like in your area but what is the obsession with all of these damn duplexes... ow WAIT I mean TOWNHOMES that seem to be popping up everywhere around here. Even the new 'townhome' divisions that are half full just killing our traffic.

[Fridays Child]

4. Al Gore warned about relying on an economy propped up by...

...housing and transportation sales.

[AlCzervik]

5. well hopefully that means less people in over their heads.

i read that sales of exisiting homes are up by almost the same number, hopefully those buyers bought within their means.

[Clark2008]

8. It could also be that new homes aren't built as well.

My husband and I have been looking and mos tof the new construction we've seen looks like one could huff and puff and blow that house down.

We're looking at established houses, now.

[AlCzervik]

9. i've had 2 new homes, one in Texas that was built like crap and one her in

california--the upstairs bathroom toilet was installed---are you ready for this??? With no wax ring!!!!! Thankfully it didn't get used much but after almost a year the laundry room ceiling caught my attention becasue it look shiny, the toilet was directly over it. What a frigging nightmare it was, they fixed everything but i shutter to think about the next thing that wasn't done right.

[Saphire]

12. you can say that again...I work in new construction, and here in

Texas, I wouldn't buy a new home....shitty work all the way around. Just plain shitty.

[madokie]

17. I was in new home construction here in north east Ok

Concrete finisher. The houses being built, or the ones that we did work on are built very good, lot of attention to details too. Maybe its just the builders we done work for though. They even caulk the holes in the plates where the plumbing and electrical wires go through. very energy efficient. Our concrete work is second to none. 4000 psi concrete, 4 inch slump and hand troweled to a very smooth finish. As I travel around the county and see our work it stands out from the others too. be very proud of our work.

[truebrit71]

6. Methinks the bubble has burst...

...and things will not be getting any better...

This is NOT a good sign...

[leftofthedial]

10. without the early mortgage withdrawals, the economy would have been

in recession (or nearly so) continuously throughout king george's reign of terror.

that pool of economic "steroids" is pretty nearly used up.

now, with interest rates climbing and home values falling, we'll see just how badly the fucking repukes have screwed up the economy AGAIN.

[Gidney N Cloyd]

13. On GMA this morning they said sales unexpectedly jumped up, in fact

the biggest jump in two years.
I'm not good for much that early but I swear that's what the anchor model said in a lead in to a RE Agent tricks segment.

[Warpy]

14. That's EXISTING homes

Big difference. People selling those are in a position to drop the price a bit. Contractors can't really offer deep discounts on the new construction without cutting into the margin they need to keep going.

That chirpy story was on local news here. I notice they didn't mention whether or not the average price had declined. I think it probably has.

[warrens]

15. Just wait til the interest-only mortgages start kicking in

No one will be able to move, because they will have zero equity and high payments and no refinancing options. I hope real estate agents packed away their commissions, because it's going to be a lean four or five years.