New Home Sales Drop For Second Straight Month

[Purveyor]

Source: REUTERS

Sales of newly built homes sank again in December, but the deep freeze may have had a hand in the decline.

Sales of new U.S. single-family homes fell more than expected in December, but lean inventories and steady price gains suggested sufficient strength in the housing market to support the economy.

The Commerce Department said on Monday sales fell 7.0 percent to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 414,000 units. November's sales were revised to a 445,000-unit pace from the previously reported 464,000-unit rate.

Economists polled by Reuters had expected new home sales, which are measured when contracts are signed, to slow to a 457,000-unit pace in December.

Read more: http://www.nbcnews.com/business/new-home-sales-drop-second-straight-month-2D11999524

[frazzled]

1. Yeah, -19 does tend to slow the house hunting down

I mean, I had to think twice today just to decide whether to go to the store to buy some potatoes I needed. If I were even thinking of buying a house, this is not the time I'd do it.

[happyslug]

2. This was for December 2013, the real cold did not hit till the middle of January

Furthermore we are no where near where we should be:



http://economistsoutlook.blogs.realtor.org/2014/01/27/new-home-sales-13/

http://www.realtor.org/sites/default/files/reports/2014/embargoes/ehs-01-23-glltlotp/ehs-12-2013-overview-2014-01-23.pdf

[jtuck004]

3. Just fyi, we have about 26 million more people than we had in 2003...

The other thing that is interesting about this chart is the lack of new home sales throughout the financial crisis. There was a little jump in 2009, not huge by historical standards, but through all that activity from 2004-5 to about 2008 it was re-financing, not growth, that spurred us onward. Nothing but a pure profit play by the rentiers to take money via fees, who then drove the country, and the lives of many of our neighbors, into the ground in the pursuit of those fees. Now are being rewarded for it.

Jamie Dimon should be in jail instead of getting a raise based in part on how much taxpayer money his bank has used to make a profit in the past 6 years.

[JaneyVee]

4. Winter is the worst time to move & renovate.