Low Mortgage Rates Can’t Rise The Homes Sales and Price
Tuesday, December 23, 2008, another drop report on homes price and sales, with the low mortgage rates, still can’t help it.
Sales of new and existing homes plummeted in November, as buyers stayed out of the market amid the growing financial crisis and deepening recession, according to figures released Tuesday.
Sales of existing homes fell 8.6 percent, far more than expected, to an annual rate of 4.49 million in November, from a downwardly revised pace of 4.91 million in October. The median sales price fell 13.2 percent — the largest amount on record — to $181,300, from $208,000 a year ago.
That was the lowest price since February 2004 and the largest year-over-year drop on records going back to 1968. The drop in home prices was probably the largest since the Fantastic Depression, NAR chief economist Lawrence Yun told reporters.
Meanwhile sales of newly built single-family homes slowed to the weakest levels since 1991, according to the Commerce Department.
The seasonally adjusted annual sales pace of 407,000 was down 2.9 percent from October and was the lowest rate since January 1991.
The median price of a new home sold in November was $220,400, a drop of 11.5 percent from the sales price a year ago. That was the largest year-over-year price decline since a 12.7 percent fall in March of this year. The median is the point where half the homes sold for more and half for less.
The price decline was most pronounced in the West, where the median price of $242,500 was more than 25 percent below year-ago levels. Sales activity, but, was up 18 percent from a year ago, indicating that low prices coupled with low mortgage rates are drawing some buyers off the sidelines.
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Tags: Commerce Department, financial crisis, Financial News, great depression, homes price, homes sales, low mortgage rates, lowest price, NAR, price decline, recessionTags: Commerce Department, financial crisis, great depression, homes price, homes sales, low mortgage rates, lowest price, NAR, price decline, recession
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