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March Existing Home Sales Come At 5.1 Million, 8.4 Months Of Inventory, Median Condo Price Down 10% From Year Prior
Larry Yun, whose NAR has now lost all credibility, and which data has been confirmed to be flawed and conflicted, released March existing home sales, which allegedly came at an annualized rate of 5.1 million compared to expectations of 5 million. From the release: "Existing-home sales, which are completed transactions that include single-family, townhomes, condominiums and co-ops, increased 3.7 percent to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 5.10 million in March from an upwardly revised 4.92 million in February, but are 6.3 percent below the 5.44 million pace in March 2010. Sales were at elevated levels from March through June of 2010 in response to the home buyer tax credit." And while we have nothing but ridicule for Yun's thought, for some reason the market still seems to care. This is what he said: “Existing-home sales have risen in six of the past eight months, so we’re clearly on a recovery path,” he said. “With rising jobs and excellent affordability conditions, we project moderate improvements into 2012, but not every month will show a gain – primarily because some buyers are finding it too difficult to obtain a mortgage. For those fortunate enough to qualify for financing, monthly mortgage payments as a percent of income have been at record lows." Yes, all is great, even as housing is now triple dipping.
And some more data which is quite possibly completely fabricated:
Data from Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae show requirements to obtain conventional mortgages have been tightened, with the average credit score rising to about 760 in the current market from nearly 720 in 2007; for FHA loans the average credit score is around 700, up from just over 630 in 2007.
“Although home sales are coming back without a federal stimulus, sales would be notably stronger if mortgage lending would return to the normal, safe standards that were in place a decade ago – before the loose lending practices that created the unprecedented boom and bust cycle,” Yun explained.
“Given that FHA and VA government-backed loan programs turned a modest profit over to the U.S. Treasury last year, and have never required a taxpayer bailout, we believe low-downpayment loans should continue to be available for those consumers who have demonstrated financial responsibility and are willing to stay well within their budget. Raising the downpayment requirement would unnecessarily deny credit to many worthy middle-class families and veterans,” Yun said.
Total inventory, which is about one third of the real number when accounting for shadow inventory, was 8.4 months.
Total housing inventory at the end of March rose 1.5 percent to 3.55
million existing homes available for sale, which represents an 8.4-month
supply at the current sales pace, compared with a 8.5-month supply in February.
Yet not even NAR could spin the collapse in housing prices:
Existing condominium and co-op sales increased 1.6 percent to a
seasonally adjusted annual rate of 650,000 in March from 640,000 in
February, but are 4.1 percent below the 678,000-unit pace one year ago.
The median existing condo price was $153,100 in March, which is 10.1 percent below March 2010.
Those who actually enjoy reading data with no credibility at all can read the full release here.
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Like Obama said: THINK OUTSIDE THE BOX! it's somebodies living room...
The figure themselves are complete bullshit. Even at an annualized rate it's probably not over 4 million.
Their statistical model is still based on resale activity that occurred in 1999 and 2000.
Clearly a recovery. My house value has dropped $50k since October 2009.
We are now at a permanent low gully of home price stability
Lets just hope that the gully isn't leading to an outflow drain.
"Its always a great time to buy a home" - NAR.
Home sales will keep going up.
Lots and lots of people who are being kicked out of their house and need to go to a small appartment.
S A L E S !!
"Its always a great time to buy a home" - NAR.
SORRY
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"It is always a good time to buy or sell your property."
(At least that was NAR in the State of Florida in 08, true story)
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All is WELL! Absolutely no justification for raised debt ceiling (Obamas got that handled) or QE3 (spectacular economic conditions everywhere).
Get the $45 silver post ready! $44.975 at the mo
And dollar clinging by fingernails to $74? Pffft, Im buying more food, ammo, people clinging to stocks have got to be utterly insane. Definitely full retard.
NEVER go full retard .welcome to the goody room
"Home sales are coming down from the mountain peak, but they will level out at a high plateau -- a plateau that is higher than previous peaks in the housing cycle.”
- David Lereah, Chief Economist, National Association of Realtors
“I don't worry about new home sales,”
- James Glassman, JP Morgan Chase Economist
"There is no national housing market, so there can't be a national house-price bubble."
- Michael Youngblood, Managing Director, Friedman Billings Ramsey & Co
“If you own your own home free and clear, people will often refer to you as a fool. All that money sitting there, doing nothing.”
- Anthony Hsieh, CEO Lending Tree
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“The continuing shortages of housing inventory are driving the price gains. There is no evidence of bubbles popping.”
- David Lereah, NAR’s chief economist, August 2005
tp ... damn service unavailable.
Nice battle on CNBS. Some troll advocates goobermint tearing down homes so we can build new ones. Santelli hollers, "keep the goobermint out!" Unbelievable
Hey I'll play the game! A friend of mine owns a demolition company I'll drive a CAT thru unsellable homes all day and get paid fat bucks, bring it on!
Can I be your 'recycling' subcontractor. I hear 'green' is the new thing, so you can tear 'em down and I will recycle them.....win-win. game on!!
A real government program would be to say you tore it down..but actually did nothing to it...and then said you will rebuild it..and there it is...you charge for both of course..and you have to do nothing...you probably need a minority or two to make it pass muster
You beat me to it.
Doesn't the option ARM tsunami peak in Sept 2012? Can someone throw up the graph? Great time to be an incumbent...bastard.
I just wish I could get away with providing the IRS with a 'selective' picture of my finances...
any number can be fixed. Today I found out that our glorieus sales numbers where spiked because accounting didn't do the credit form from clients for these last 2 months. That made the numbers look 12% better then they actually are.
at least the Q1 number was good enough for the shareholders.
Home sales in my area are seeing a spike, but prices are down 12% in the past year. A surprising number of high-end properties are finally moving after the owners threw in the towel and slashed the asking price 20%-40%.
All this activity and BAC is closing their loan office here. My neighbor is the manager and he's been transferred to another office so his 4500SF McMansion is up for sale in this wonderful market -- poetic justice!
ARM Tsunami appears to be swamping WFC today.
Big Blue not doing so well. BTW nice job buying the top in INTC.
Headline I'd like to see: Bogus housing data trumps real oil shock - Equities Soar.
Dollar Collapses, Equities Up But Only Tread Water Still.
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Death from the bubonic plague have risen by 16.3 million units, on the other hand, it should be noted, that on an annualized basis, this is number represents only a modest increase of of 2.3% Year on Year.
(END OF STATEMENT)
Hilarious!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Really dry...just right!
No doubt homebuilders are gonna rally big time off this news. Why?...WHY NOT!
The empty house next door could now be purchased with just one green monster box of Silver. I paid $6,000 for it. Hummmm; Do I buy the House and turn it into a rental?
i wouldnt.....they will find a way to get the equity you build up in the house
NAR is from outer space.
There has never been a better time to buy a house (how many times did i hear that before ??)
The good ole NAR (National Association of Revilement(Lies) where no matter if it's a jubilee or cataclysmic event-it's always a good time to buy a home. Problem is you have to sell your home first and compete with short sales or foreclosures or if you're a young, naive first time buyer then you may be 1 paycheck away from losing your new home if you lose your job: you are gambling that the economy is going to keep improving-odds anyone?!
Any data on the sales volume in tent cities and cardboard box underpass communities? I heard that the whisper number on the median price of a refrigerator box ticked higher in March. Unfortunately it was offset by the prices for flat screen TV boxes, but experts believe the softness in the market is due to a post holiday-led increase in supply.
That was depressingly realistic.
But...but...but, my real estate agent said,"Condo prices never go down"....
Scam-O-Rama!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Buy oil (USO) or Gold (GLD) to preserve what little you have left as houses (and the dollar) keep falling imho. These will rise as The Bernank prints...ooops, I'm sorry, quantitatively eases the economy.