Tuesday, May 15, 2007 at 02:42PM
Have Gun, Shoot Foot
Tuesday, May 15, 2007
WASHINGTON -- Existing home sales rose at an annual rate of 6.4 million units last quarter, down 6.6 percent from a year ago, the National Association of Realtors said Tuesday. In the trade group's quarterly survey of housing market conditions, the national median existing single-family home price was $212,300, down 1.8 percent from a year ago when the median price was $216,100.
"It appears the worst of the price correction is behind us," said Pat V. Combs, NAR's president and vice president of Coldwell Banker-AJS-Schmidt in Grand Rapids, Mich.
Existing home sales were 2.4 percent higher at an annual rate than they were in the last quarter of 2006. Fourteen states and the District of Columbia showed an increase in the rate of home sales last quarter compared to only six states showing gains a quarter earlier.
Jim the Realtor
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Reader Comments (7)
So NAR has now resorted to comparing the traditionally slowest quarter of the year to the traditionally best quarter to show an IMPROVEMENT.
I can’t wait to see what they come up with next. “If you compare this quarter’s median price to the median price in that same quarter in 1997, we are still 4% above those prices.”
Cant these people be embarrassed? What? This is the first time real estate is not cyclical? This time is different--eh? Some one should sue them for fraud jus tto shut them up.
NAR: trickle-up sleaziness.
It had the opportunity to show some real professionalism and step up to the plate between 2002 and 2005 to dampen some of the excess going on regarding loose lending practices and the like. But it didn't. Why am I not surprised? Could it be that its members were making just too much darn money for the NAR to rain on the parade. I wonder. Now its just more excuses and lies.
Bottom calling!
WooHoo. Glad to see we got that whole troublesome bubble out of the way. Now, back to those 25% per year increases. Daddy needs a new pair of shoes!
I have a feeling that bottom-calling could turn into a full-time job over the next 4 years. Only when the bottom-callers capitulate, will we see the true bottom.
Chuck Ponzi
www.socalbubble.com
Here is the part NAR left out, below is from Bloomberg.com. As you can see sales are DOWN 6.6% when compared to the same time last year:
"Tumbling prices sparked an increase in sales as bargain shoppers snapped up the cheaper properties. Seasonally adjusted, home sales rose 2.4 percent to an annualized 6.41 million from 6.26 million in the fourth quarter, the association said. Compared with a year earlier, the number of sales fell 6.6 percent."
Tug of War: Owners don't budge as houses sit unsold
http://www.palmbeachpost.com/search/content/
business/epaper/2007/05/14/m1bz_homeprices_0514.html
Who will win? I wonder...
The biggest disappointment is that each year it's a different president saying the same thing. I know they are volunteers, but I wish one of them would throw out the script book and try to help.
Can you imagine what it's like at HQ these days? Lereah is down the road, so the secretaries are huddled around the watercooler trying to figure out what to tell the president to say. "Heck just say what we said last month, sooner or later we'll be right".