“Sales of new homes in the U.S. fell to a 12-year low in November, pointing to bigger declines in construction that will hobble economic growth throughout 2008.”
“Purchases fell in three of four regions, led by a 28 percent plunge in the Midwest. Sales dropped 19 percent in the Northeast and 6.4 percent in the South. They rose 4 percent in the West.”
∙ Sales of New Homes in U.S. Dropped 9% to 12-Year Low [Bloomberg]
Listed sales volume for SF looks to be at a pretty low level this month. Right now, the Dec sales count stands at just 251 – less than 1/2 the Dec 06 count of 503. The final Dec 07 count might crack 300 when all reportings are in – but that’s still a big YOY decline. Active inventory is down to 871 – seems low, but it was only about 700 last year at this time.
I think we’ll begin to see soon whether this decline in volume is having a real impact on SF prices (or not).
FSBO, thanks for the update. While the months-of-inventory is creeping up with the big decline in sales volume, I have to admit that I’m surprised that the active listings are not higher — this appears to have at least slowed the price declines (although the data flowing in sure seems to indicate we’re now starting to see real price declines — but I concede things may be read otherwise).
On a related note, the spouses (both realtors) of two partners of mine are really getting hammered by the slowdown in volume. I’m told they averaged 3 sales a month for the last couple years but one only had 3 sales in all of 2007 and the other had 8 sales. Fortunately for them, their income is just party and clothes money.