Pending home sales plunge 16 percent in Nov., far more than expected

[marmar]

Pending home sales fall 16 percent in Nov.
By ALAN ZIBEL, AP Real Estate Writer


WASHINGTON – The number of buyers who agreed to purchase previously occupied homes fell sharply in November, a sign sales will fall this winter, undermining last summer's recovery.

The report Tuesday indicates consumers are taking their time following the extension of a tax credit deadline. The incentive of up to $8,000 for first-time buyers was set to expire at the end of November. But Congress pushed back the date and broadened the program with a new credit of up to $6,500 for buyers who relocate.

But there appeared little risk a potential double-dip in housing would pull the economy back into recession. Orders to U.S. factories posted a big gain in November, the Commerce Department said Tuesday. That data was the latest evidence of a strong turnaround in manufacturing as industries from China to Europe flash recovery signs.

Taken together, the reports show that, while housing remains vulnerable, makers of steel, computers and chemicals are mounting a surprisingly robust rebound.

"We expect housing to just limp along even as the rest of the economy is growing fairly strongly," said Nomura Securities economist Zach Pandl. .........(more)

The complete piece is at: http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100105/ap_on_bi_go_ec_fi/us_economy

[David Zephyr]

1. Banks have begun inching up mortgage rates which will only cause more pain to Americans.

I watch as the mortgage rates now are being methodically raised by the bankers who are lending (our stolen money) to homeowners and am amazed, not at the cruelty, not at the criminal nature of it all, but at how our government sanctions this neo-fascism.

[slipslidingaway]

4. Keeping this old article in mind ....

Fun With Funding...THE critical issue looking ahead is COST OF FUNDING

"...THE critical issue looking ahead is COST OF FUNDING. At the outset we asked the question, will the US face a funding problem at some point, given that the US is beholden to foreign financing? It's the cost of funding that will be key to forward outcomes both in the real US economy and financial markets..."


http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=389&topic_id=4053996&mesg_id=4053996

Updated link and the 10/08 article followed up on the discussion
http://contraryinvestor.com/2008archives/mosept08.htm


http://contraryinvestor.com/2008archives/mooct08.htm

"The "Other" Consumer Confidence Report...What the heck are they thinking now? You know who we mean, the foreign investment community. Who else? Hopefully without wildly belaboring the point, we remain convinced that the US is ultimately going to face a funding issue down the road. Maybe not a funding issue in terms of being able to borrow funds, but rather the issue is the cost at which funds will ultimately be made available to the US. This is exactly what we addressed when we penned the Fun With Funding discussion last month..."

[jpak]

2. More evidence that extending the tax credit was a good move

n/t

[amborin]

3. and-Banks are making big $$$$$ off refinancing troubled loans & not helping many homeowners

[xchrom]

5. This is bad news I don't need. Nt

[Goldstein1984]

6. This is a dose of the reality that we need

Just before Christmas, we had lunch with a good friend who is a very successful realtor. She helped us purchase our home in Anchorage, Alaska in 2004, and she helped us sell that home in 2008, becoming a good friend in the process. She's now advising us against buying a home anytime in the next two years.

It's odd for us, because we haven't rented a home in more than twenty years, but we're taking her advice.

She also told us that she expected about one in five realtors in Alaska to leave the realty business in 2010.