Pending Home Sales–Another Sign Of Housing Depression

[marmar]

from 24/7WallStreet:




Pending Home Sales–Another Sign Of Housing Depression
Posted: August 3, 2010 at 10:36 am


There has not been a single positive piece of housing news in over a month. That string continued today as the National Association of Realtors put out is June figures for pending home sales.

The Pending Home Sales Index declined 2.6% to 75.7 based on contracts signed in June from an upwardly revised level of 77.7 in May, and is 18.6% below June 2009 when it was 93.0. The number is particularly stunning since in June of last year the economy was still in the midst of a recession.

The association reported that “the PHSI in the Northeast dropped 12.2% from May to 58.8 in June and is 25.4% lower than June 2009. In the Midwest the index fell 9.5% from May to 64.1 and is 27.8 percent lower than a year ago. The two regions where much harder hit than the South and West, which may be due to the fact that prices in those regions have already fall so much.

Housing continues to crumble even though Freddie Mac says interest rates are at all-time lows. Home prices have clearly not come low enough to end the “buyer’s strike” in the housing market. The NAR figures are a sign that home values could drop considerably more before prices and sales begin to rise.

None of the federal government programs, particularly HAMP, have been able to arrest the slide. High unemployment apparently is too great a hurdle for any intervention to overcome it.

-- Douglas A. McIntyre


http://247wallst.com/2010/08/03/pending-home-sales-another-sign-of-housing-depression/#ixzz0vZl9RFRT

[dixiegrrrrl]

1. “buyer’s strike” in the market?

Good lord, what are those people smoking.
They make it sound as if all of us are sitting around in piles of cash from our jobs, refusing to buy a house.

Right now 47% of all jobs are minimum wage. How the hell are ANY of the market indices going to be healthy with
that reality?

[napi21]

2. I was talking to my broker ho handles our 401K's about this.

The biggest problem as we both see it is that the banks are afraid to lend money. He has a hell of a lot more $$ than I do and he told me he applied for a new mortgage and had a very tough time of it. He said "They check EVERYTHING from "when I ate my last meal to how often I take a shower!" Now I understand he was exadurating a bit, but he said they were all scared to death to lend $$ for fear that even ONE loan might go bad.

That's the big reason why what the Pubs did last week in denying any votes on the small business loan bill. It would have helped small businesses, but I think it also would have freed up money for eligible home buyers too.

[villager]

3. How do they figure on still selling homes at extortionary prices to un and under- employed people?

n/t

[kiva]

4. Here in Las Vegas the prices have tumbled mightly,

but our unemployment figures are ridiculously high. If you have a job, and can get a bank to loan the money, you can buy and have payments that are low enough to make even with a minimum wage job. Of course, trying to get a bank to lend you money when you only make minimum wage is another story.

[xchrom]

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