Home sales post unexpected April increase

[Wretched Excess]

We interrupt the end of the world for the following news bulletin . . . .

Home sales post unexpected April increase

 WASHINGTON - Sales of new homes rose in April for the first time in six months although the unexpected increase still left activity near the lowest level in 17 years.

The Commerce Department reported Tuesday that sales of new homes rose 3.3 percent in April to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 526,000 units.

But the government revised March activity lower to show an even bigger drop of 11 percent to an annual rate of 509,000, which was the weakest pace for sales since April 1991. Economists believe that new home sales will remain weak for some time as the housing industry struggles with falling prices and rising mortgage foreclosures, which are dumping even more homes on an already glutted market.

The Commerce report showed that the median price of a new home sold in April dropped to $246,100 in April, down 4.2 percent from April 2007.

A separate report showed home prices falling during the first three months of this year at the sharpest rate in two decades. The Standard & Poor's/Case-Shiller index fell 14.1 percent in the first quarter compared with a year earlier, the biggest year-over-year decline since the index began in 1988.

More Here

[Lord Undies]

The media never "forecasts" from the other side of the coin where slumping housing prices makes an attractive market for folks who couldn't afford to buy an overpriced house.

As I said several years ago, there was something terribly wrong with the housing market.  As it was, if I could drag my modest little home to southern California, I could sell it for over a million dollars.  That was over five times what it is worth where it sat, and it was overpriced already.

[Wretched Excess]

The media never "forecasts" from the other side of the coin where slumping housing prices makes an attractive market for folks who couldn't afford to buy an overpriced house.

As I said several years ago, there was something terribly wrong with the housing market.  As it was, if I could drag my modest little home to southern California, I could sell it for over a million dollars.  That was over five times what it is worth where it sat, and it was overpriced already.

bingo. 

[NHSparky]

I can't even imagine what my house would go for back in CA (if I could include the land).  More than likely they'd just tear it down and build 10 crackerboxes on it.

[Uhhuh35]

I can't even imagine what my house would go for back in CA (if I could include the land).  More than likely they'd just tear it down and build 10 crackerboxes on it.

Who you callin' cracker? CRACKER!   

[NHSparky]

I can't even imagine what my house would go for back in CA (if I could include the land).  More than likely they'd just tear it down and build 10 crackerboxes on it.

Who you callin' cracker? CRACKER!   

Myself--I bought one of those crackerboxes in 2001.  1500 sq. ft. of house, 3100 sq. ft. lot (45 X 65).  Five years later it sold in an already declining market for double what we paid for it.

[Chris_]

The media never "forecasts" from the other side of the coin where slumping housing prices makes an attractive market for folks who couldn't afford to buy an overpriced house.

As I said several years ago, there was something terribly wrong with the housing market.  As it was, if I could drag my modest little home to southern California, I could sell it for over a million dollars.  That was over five times what it is worth where it sat, and it was overpriced already.

My condo is, indeed, worth 5 times what I paid for it 10 years ago.  The "falling" prices have lost me about $30K of the non-existent escalated price and it still is at 5X.  Since I never tried to use the artificial equity, it is all gravy for me.  Since I'll stay there for at least 10-20 years, I suspect it will be worth 10 times what I paid for it or more by then.

The market will correct, in time. But panic sells more papers.

[NHSparky]

Especially when it can be used to bash those "evvvvilllllleeee" Republicans.

Nevermind the fact that when the dot-com bubble burst, the market lost $5-8 TRILLION in value, compared to the roughly $400-600 Billion we're looking at in the housing market.

[Tess Anderson]

Aren't housing sales supposed to be a lagging ecomonic indicator, anyways?

Yeah, the dot.com bust of 1999-2000 really blew open the market on the Left Coast. A lot of this doom and gloom economic talk is the MSM trying to help the Democrat Party - they've been trying that technique ever since Reagan beat Carter back in 1980, when the country was ina nasty recession.

I bought this house for $330K in 2001, it's appraised at $550k or so of last year, land prices are higher.

[Chris_]

Aren't housing sales supposed to be a lagging ecomonic indicator, anyways?

Yeah, the dot.com bust of 1999-2000 really blew open the market on the Left Coast. A lot of this doom and gloom economic talk is the MSM trying to help the Democrat Party - they've been trying that technique ever since Reagan beat Carter back in 1980, when the country was ina nasty recession.

I bought this house for $330K in 2001, it's appraised at $550k or so of last year, land prices are higher.

Not bad -- just don't use that artificial 220 increase and you will be fine.

[NHSparky]

Aren't housing sales supposed to be a lagging ecomonic indicator, anyways?

Yeah, the dot.com bust of 1999-2000 really blew open the market on the Left Coast. A lot of this doom and gloom economic talk is the MSM trying to help the Democrat Party - they've been trying that technique ever since Reagan beat Carter back in 1980, when the country was ina nasty recession.

I bought this house for $330K in 2001, it's appraised at $550k or so of last year, land prices are higher.

Not bad -- just don't use that artificial 220 increase and you will be fine.

That's part of why we're in the mess we're in now...people foolishly thought the boom would go on forever and used their houses as their personal ATM's.

[Chris_]

Aren't housing sales supposed to be a lagging ecomonic indicator, anyways?

Yeah, the dot.com bust of 1999-2000 really blew open the market on the Left Coast. A lot of this doom and gloom economic talk is the MSM trying to help the Democrat Party - they've been trying that technique ever since Reagan beat Carter back in 1980, when the country was ina nasty recession.

I bought this house for $330K in 2001, it's appraised at $550k or so of last year, land prices are higher.

Not bad -- just don't use that artificial 220 increase and you will be fine.

That's part of why we're in the mess we're in now...people foolishly thought the boom would go on forever and used their houses as their personal ATM's.

But now we get to bail them out.  How nice.  How quaint. How knee-jerk.  I should have just grabbed the $320K artificial equity (how much fun could I have had with THAT?) and now stood with big eyes saying "please, sir, could you not kick me out of me home?"

The lesson?  Responsibility is for suckers.

[Tess Anderson]

I don't even have a first motgage on it, since I was fortunate enough to pay it in cash from the proceeds of the sale of my last house. The only reason i know what it's worth *now* is because I let it be appraised again last year when one of my neighbors was moving back to Montana.

The I-5 corridor is notorious for having over-inflated housing prices - the bubble will burst.

[Zeus]

Aren't housing sales supposed to be a lagging ecomonic indicator, anyways?

Yeah, the dot.com bust of 1999-2000 really blew open the market on the Left Coast. A lot of this doom and gloom economic talk is the MSM trying to help the Democrat Party - they've been trying that technique ever since Reagan beat Carter back in 1980, when the country was ina nasty recession.

I bought this house for $330K in 2001, it's appraised at $550k or so of last year, land prices are higher.

Was that a Market appraisal or Tax appraisal ? Tax appraisals are historically more often than not substancially overblown. Reason being thats the value the Govt enities collects taxes on.

Here is a nifty market price comparison http://hpci.coldwellbanker.com/

[NHSparky]

Here is a nifty market price comparison http://hpci.coldwellbanker.com/

That's just wrong.  It says that even now my house in OC (Irvine) would be worth MORE than $1 Million...then again, I'm thinking the land alone would be worth more than that.

That's even MORE wrong.

[Zeus]

Here is a nifty market price comparison http://hpci.coldwellbanker.com/

That's just wrong.  It says that even now my house in OC (Irvine) would be worth MORE than $1 Million...then again, I'm thinking the land alone would be worth more than that.

That's even MORE wrong.

Your house in Irvine compared to a house where ?

Somnewhat off topic.  Couple Months back I had a conversation with a fellow who had just moved here from the town I used to live in In So.Cal, Dana Point. The Duplex we used to rent for $375/month in 1979 now gets rents in excess of $1500/Month.

[Tess Anderson]

I couldn't get it to work at all -the closest city to choose from is still over 50 miles away, rural area.

It was market appraisal that actually helped me this year - the tax appraisal was $605k, I challenged it and they knocked it down a bit. Still had to pay just under 10K in property taxes for the year.

I might have to plant those Christmas trees yet... then I can be another "farmer" that has no idea of what I'm doing. But that would cut that number way down.