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Home Sales Down Across The Country
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Once again, we are faced with some rather negative news coming out of the trenches of real estate sales. It was announced this week that existing home sales dropped 27% in July from June of this year. It was noted that the recent (April 30) expiration of the first time buyer tax credit had an effect on the market and the number of sales, even though we are seeing historically low interest rates in the 4% range for fixed 30 year mortgages. It was also announced that foreclosures were on the rise again, and that the commercial sector was beginning to take a hit as well.
New construction sales were also down in July by 12.4% over June of this year. However, looking at year over year figures, July dropped almost 33% from July, 2009 sales figures which were already anemic, at best. The new construction rate is the lowest that it has been in over 40 years!
In "gossip news", I heard this week from a friend with Bank of America that they are expecting to foreclose on as many as 30,000 houses per month through the end of this year! Not sure if that's true, but if it is, that's a lot of property that will be coming on the market in the next 6 months!
Here in Charlotte, we are reflecting the national trend and seeing reductions in the same percentage ranges. With all of the talk of the double dip recession and continuation of sliding home prices, I'm not sure when we will finally see the bottom and start heading back up. Buckle up, I think we are in for a continuing bumpy ride for at least the next 18 months.
As always, feel free to email me your comments and questions at tony@tmbjr.com.
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Posted - 08/29/2010
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