It may not be very merry, but it’s true. Homeowners have gotten another lump of coal this month.
According to the National Association of Realtors (NAR), existing homes sales fell again in November as prices continued to free fall. Bah Humbug.
Here’s the skinny from AP.
It is in a story by Alan Zibel entitled: November existing home sales fall by 8.6 percent
“Sales of existing homes plunged far more than expected last month as buyers recoiled from October’s financial wreckage on Wall Street. The median sales price fell by the largest amount on record.
The National Association of Realtors said Tuesday existing home sales fell 8.6 percent to an annual rate of 4.49 million in November, from a downwardly revised pace of 4.91 million in October.
Sales had been expected to fall to a pace of 4.9 million units. according to Thomson Reuters.
The median sales price plunged 13.2 percent in November to $181,300, from $208,000 a year ago. That was the lowest price since February 2004, the biggest year-over-year drop on records going back to 1968 and most likely the biggest drop since the Great Depression.
Lawrence Yun, the normally upbeat chief economist of the Realtors group, found few positive spots in the month’s dismal data. But he did note that after prior stock market crashes home sales usually rebounded within a few months.
“We hope that, similarly, the current slowdown in home sales activity is a short-term phenomenon,” Yun said, noting that people in the real estate industry are “crossing our fingers” that the market will recover.
So that is what it has come to at the NAR these days…..crossed fingers.
Maybe Santa will bring them a bag full of rabbit’s feet or a lucky Buddha to rub.
From here it looks like they are going to need it.
