“Purchases of new homes in the U.S. fell to a 12-year low in December [and fell 26% on a year-over-year basis], capping the biggest annual decline on record.
Sales decreased 4.7 percent to an annual pace of 604,000, the fewest since February 1995, from a 634,000 rate the prior month, the Commerce Department said today in Washington. The median price last month dropped 10 percent from December 2006, the biggest 12-month decline in 37 years.
The report may reinforce concern that falling home values and stricter lending rules will lead to more foreclosures and hurt consumer spending. Federal Reserve policy makers, meeting later this week, will probably cut interest rates again to try to ward off recession, economists said.”
∙ Sales of New Houses in U.S. Fall More Than Forecast [Bloomberg]
∙ U.S. Existing Home Sales Decline More Than Forecast In December [SocketSite]
Wrong title.
Existing home sales always follow new home sales. So expect the existing home sales to drop farther.
You know, one point that I think really gets missed in the whole RE debate here in SF is demographics…I’d love to see some data on who was buying the $1M+ 2 Bedroom condos in “prime SF” the last few years.
Not just income level, which has been discussed ad nauseum, but other demographic categories such as marital status, children living at home, etc.
With even SF RE becoming a 5-year “buy-and-hold” proposition, I suspect that many potential buyers will have different objectives in years forward than years past.