The seasonally adjusted annual pace of new single-family home sales in the U.S. fell to 298,000 in July, down 0.7 percent from a revised rate of 300,000 in June but up 6.8 percent versus the 279,000 pace recorded in July 2010.
Preliminary U.S. new home sales (versus pace) in July were estimated to be 27,000 (give or take 8 percent), one thousand lower than in June.
In the West, the pace of new home sales was up 45.4 percent year-over-year to 44,000, down 5.9 percent versus the month before.
And yes, think tax credits with respect to below average volumes in July 2010.
∙ New Residential Sales: June 2011 [census.gov]
∙ New Residential Sales Since 1963 [census.gov]
∙ U.S. New Home Sales: Up 1.6% Year-Over-Year In June [SocketSite]
∙ Homebuyer Tax Credit Extension For Closing (Not Contract) Date [SocketSite]
I always appreciate that you report year over year as the appropriate metric. Mainstream media always headlines monthly variations as if they’re big news and then buries the year on year in the body of the article.
And in this case, of course, very appropriate to mention the tax credits issue. Because, despite the y-o-y increase, we are on track to have record low sales of new homes this year.
Of course new home sales don’t have that much to do with SF.
Are the complete tear-down and rebuilds that occur in SF counted as new home sales? I think that the consumer market thinks of these as new homes even if they were built while preserving a vestigial trace of the old home to count as a remodel.
I was just thinking the other day that perhaps the reason that such radical tear-down and rebuilds occur in good neighborhoods even to perfectly habitable houses is that there is such a demand for “new” homes in these established neighborhoods.
MoD…No they are not.
“Of course new home sales don’t have that much to do with SF.”
Except on a macro-economic level, sure. Residential investment is generally a good leading indicator. If the argument is that SF housing is necessarily dependent on stock market gains, then the metric does matter at least a little.
^^^^^^^ that’s why I said “that much” instead of “very little”.
Thanks curmudgeon, I kind of had a hunch that they were not counted as new homes. So in reality the new home stats are really “greenfield home” statistics. There isn’t any greenfield development in SF any more.
The new home stats still have some relevance to SF. They measure the demand for new homes on greenfield sites which are normally situated at the edge of cities. So you have to mentally factor out the greenfield part of the stat and apply what remains to the subset of SF homes that are effectively “new” though just remodeled.
Eh … probably better to just look at home resale stats instead.
@sparky-b Hey, don’t you have some rough framing you should be finishing up? Out of curiousity, do you ever use something like a wood hardner to preserve Victorian details, or do you end up ripping out a lot of the rotted pieces? Looking forward to seeing the finished facade.
Man, I got 5 guys there it’s not a big house. I just left, but I don’t swing a hammer anymore anyway. T
The painters are on the back prepping the new siding (easy stuff first).
We will be stripping, sanding, doing a bunch of replacement to match the missing stuff, and bondoing the rest. That should start up in about 2 weeks.
I am real excited about the finished product there as well. Plenty intact to bring it back to it’s former glory.
oh, jeezus. bondo-ing on a house? seriously?
Thought that was just for filling dents in an old Chevy pickup.
yup, queen, he’s serious. Bondo is great, or if you wanna go more high brow you can get Restor-It.
That’s actually a really bad material to use on wood structures. Once the water gets behind it, and it will, the stuff will peel away.
Better to fully replace the wood trim, brackets, etc, with newly milled all wood pieces.
What Modernqueen suggests is the best solution. It is also the most expensive and time consuming. This is especially true if the wood mill doesn’t have the router knives required to replicate the outline of the piece you’re replacing. Then they have to create a custom router blade which will cost about $200. Haas is a good bet because they have a huge library of the original knives that were used to mill the ornate trim for these old houses.
But if you’re just patching a small spot bondo works OK. Just heed Modernqueen’s warning and make sure to seal it up really well to keep the water out.
The planning department loves when you strip a Victorian and replace all the trim. It is their very favorite thing. They also love to hear about how something is better for waterproofing, they always just rubber-stamp that.
What Modernqueen suggests is the best solution. It is also the most expensive and time consuming. This is especially true if the wood mill doesn’t have the router knives required to replicate the outline of the piece you’re replacing. Then they have to create a custom router blade which will cost about $200. Haas is a good bet because they have a huge library of the original knives that were used to mill the ornate trim for these old houses.
But if you’re just patching a small spot bondo works OK. Just heed Modernqueen’s warning and make sure to seal it up really well to keep the water out
Yes, and he said “replace.”
wow.
For sealing what I had in mind was primer then liberal use of exterior latex caulk then a coat or two of exterior paint. I hope that doesn’t require planning approval. And for what its worth that sort of sealing is good no matter which strategy you use to repair trim.
MoD, your plan is fine, “fully replace the wood trim” is what I was talking about.
Anybody ever scratch their heads in wonder when anon.ed makes a comment…and often copies and repeats what someone already said…?
It’s like listening to a Barbie doll talk about her last sleepover with Skipper.
Wow. I just had a vision of your guest room. Freaky. Please don’t go Mattel on us, moving forward.