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Today we have this article from the Washington Post:
New Home Sales Plunge to Lowest Level in 16 1/2 Years
The median price of a new home in March, compared with a year ago, fell by the largest amount in nearly four decades. The Commerce Department reported Thursday that sales of new homes dropped by 8.5 percent last month to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 526,000 units, the slowest sales pace since October 1991.
The median price of a home sold in March dropped by 13.3 percent compared with March 2007, the biggest year-over-year price decline since a 14.6 percent plunge in July 1970.
The dismal news on new home sales followed earlier reports showing sales of existing homes fell by 2 percent in March. Housing, which boomed for five years, has been in a prolonged slump for the past two years with sales and home prices falling at especially sharp rates in formerly boom areas of the country.
For March, sales were down in all regions of the country, dropping the most in the Northeast, a decline of 19.4 percent. Sales fell by 12.9 percent in the West, 12.5 percent in the Midwest and 4.6 percent in the South.
WASHINGTON, March 26 - Sales of new single-family homes fell by 1.8 percent in February to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 590,000 units, according to
newly released numbers from the U.S. Commerce Department. This sales pace was nearly 30 percent below a year earlier and down by 58 percent from the peak in
July 2005.
“Builders have been pulling out all the stops to sell homes and narrow the supply of units on the market,” noted Sandy Dunn, a home builder from Point
Pleasant, W.Va. and president of the National Association of Home Builders (NAHB). “Unfortunately, buyer demand remains very weak heading into the spring
home buying season. Clearly, Congress needs to act decisively upon its return from recess next week to enact measures that will keep housing from dragging the
economy into a recession.”
“Our latest member surveys confirm that builders have seen an improvement in the number of prospective buyers who are visiting model homes, and consumer
attitudes toward home buying have perked up in recent months,” noted NAHB Chief Economist David Seiders. “But this hasn’t yet translated into greater sales
activity, and it stands to reason that additional stimulative measures — such as a temporary home buyer tax credit, FHA modernization and GSE reform — could
have substantial positive impacts on both the housing market and the overall economy.”
Regionally, sales activity was mixed in the month of February. The Northeast registered a 40.3 percent decline while the Midwest posted a 6.4 percent
decline, the South posted a 5.7 percent increase and the West eked out a 0.7 percent gain.
On a positive note, builders’ efforts to reduce the inventory of new homes on the market drove that number down 2.1 percent to a seasonally adjusted 471,000
units in February. However, the supply of units at the current sales pace remained unchanged at 9.8 months and the median length of time that completed
homes were on the market rose to 7.2 months from 6.7 months in January.
“This is a truly critical time for housing and the economy, and Congress needs to get right down to business when it returns from recess next week,” Dunn said.
“Every day that lawmakers fail to act is a missed opportunity for improvement.”
