Our headline for November’s existing U.S. home sales gain of 7.4 percent: A Sprinter’s Or Marathoner’s Pace? In December the pace of U.S. existing home sales fell 17 percent.
According to the National Association of Realtors, the decline “was the biggest since records began in 1968.”
At the same time, the pace of new home sales in the U.S. (a leading indicator) declined 7.6 percent in December. “[F]or all of 2009, sales dropped 23 percent to 374,000, the lowest level since records began in 1963.”
∙ A Sprinter’s Or Marathoner’s Pace? [SocketSite]
∙ Sales of U.S. New Homes Unexpectedly Fell in December [Bloomberg]
I wonder if part of this has to do with the initial expiration date of the first time homebuyer credit.
(even though it was extended, many people had their closing dates set in November already)
we saw the same thing with the expiration of the cash for clunkers program.
I can’t recall off the top of my head when the initial FTHB credit was to lapse though…