Posts Tagged ‘homebuilder’Housing Perspective: May New Home SalesSales of new homes dropped in May, surprising analysis who had expected a continued strengthening in US housing market data. According to Bloomberg, transactions fell 0.6% from April, but median prices decreased by just 3.4% from last year. This compares to a much bigger 17% year-over-year decline in existing home prices, as reported yesterday. Data [...] Homebuilders Add New Wing to Housing CrisisThis post first appeared on Minyanville. It appears even the embattled homebuilding industry is getting rosy-eyed, finding enough “green shoots” of economic recovery to stick their shovels back into the ground. In May, US builders broke ground on 17.2% more projects than in April, far exceeding analysts’ expectations. Work on new apartment buildings leaped, while [...] Housing Perspective: June Homebuilder SentimentHomebuilders remain cautious, as rising mortgage rates and persistent unemployment weighed on hopes for a speedy recovery in the battered housing market. Today’s National Association of Home Builders/Wells Fargo index of builder confidence fell to 15, down from 16 last month, according to Bloomberg. Analysts expected the reading to come in at 17. The NAHB [...] Keepin’ It Real Estate: Subprime Lending Is Back With a VengeanceBy ANDREW JEFFERY This post first appeared on Minyanville. Just when you thought it was safe to go back in the water… Subprime lending has come roaring back. But this time, reckless financial innovation isn’t being hatched on Wall Street. Instead, state governments are angling to “monetize” first-time homebuyer tax credits so borrowers can purchase [...] Housing Perspective: February Existing Home SalesIf you bought a house in February, it’s a 50/50 bet you picked up a foreclosure. The National Association of Realtors released data this morning indicating almost half of all transactions last month involved a bank owned home. Sales jumped 5.1% from January, to an annualized rate of 4.72 million. Prices, however, continued to decline [...] Housing Perspective: March Homebuilder SentimentConditions in the world of building new homes remains poor to quite poor. The National Association of Homebuilders (or NAHB), the industry lobbyist group, released its monthly builder confidence index this morning, which registered a near-record low reading of 9. Sentiment was unchanged from last month, which matched analysts expectations. The builder group is hopeful [...] Housing Perspective: January New Home SalesBy RYAN TAYLOR New homes sales reached record lows in January as transactions fell 10.2% from a month ago to seasonally adjusted annual rate of 309,000. This annual rate is the lowest in the history of the reading which the government started in 1963. The median sales price for new homes also fell by 9.9% [...] House of the Week: Blame it on BrentwoodFor this week’s House of the Week, Cirios takes you on a ride to the formerly pastoral outskirts of Contra Costa County, an hour-long jaunt east from San Francisco. Brentwood, once a quiet farming town, became a poster child for the housing market’s boom and bust. Builders threw up development after development, buyers paying more [...] Keepin’ It Real Estate: Capitulation Now!This post first appeared on Minyanville. Finally, housing is starting to act like a market searching for a bottom. Well, sort of. In former boom states like California, Arizona and Florida, distressed sales are driving the local real-estate markets. After a near-complete evaporation of buying activity last year, buyers have been brought off the sidelines [...] Housing Perspective: December New Home SalesBy RYAN TAYLOR The Commerce Department reported a 14.7% drop in the seasonally adjusted rate of new home sales in December. Builders unloaded just 482,000 homes, the lowest number since 1982, while the median price slipped 9.3% from December 2007 to $206,500. Tough to find a silver lining in this release, the numbers pretty much [...] Housing Perspective: January Home Builder SentimentBy RYAN TAYLOR Just when you thought the market for new homes couldn’t get any worse, it did. The National Association of Home Builders (NAHB)/Wells Fargo January builder sentiment index dropped to 8 from 9. While the homebuilders were setting records for new home sales in 2005 and 2006, they’re now setting records for the [...] Foreclosures Sting Even Best BuildersBy ANDREW JEFFERY This post first appeared on Minyanville. Foreclosure: It’s not just for those “subprime” people anymore. Besieged by collapsing home prices and frightened banks scrounging for cash, even the real-estate industry’s brightest stars are finding there’s no place to hide. According to the New York Times, small and mid-size homebuilders who thrived during [...] Keepin’ It Real Estate: Buyers’ Market? BewareBy ANDREW JEFFERY This post first appeared on Minyanville. Is it a buyer’s market? Ask most real-estate professionals the above question, and the response will almost certainly be an emphatic “Yes!” After all, they quickly explain, inventory levels are at all-time highs, sellers are desperate to get out from under their rapidly depreciating homes, and [...] Housing Perspective: December Home Builder SentimentBy RYAN TAYLOR It’s still a lousy time to be selling new homes. The National Association of Home Builders, or NAHB, shared its sentiment index for December, which remained at a record low of 9. The index is based on 426 residential developers nationwide; a reading below 50 reflects negative sentiment. In addition to the [...] Housing Perspective: October New Home SalesBy RYAN TAYLOR Hardly anyone, it appears, is interested in buying a new house. The commerce department reported this morning sales of new single family homes decreased by 5.3% in October to a seasonally adjusted annual pace of 433,000. That’s the lowest level since 1991. Sales are down a whopping 40.1% from October 2007 and [...] Keepin’ It Real Estate: Homebuilders Facing ExtinctionBy ANDREW JEFFERY For as bad as things are in the housing market, it’s remarkable that none of the country’s big homebuilders have gone bust. The industry’s resilience is a testament to how much money the firms raked in during the boom. Just ask guys in charge. The Wall Street Journal reports many homebuilder CEOs [...] Housing Perspective: Home Builder SentimentBy RYAN TAYLOR Home builders aren’t feeling very confident. And for good reason. The National Association of Home Builders shared their sentiment index for November Tuesday and the reading was the lowest since they began keeping track. The index dropped 5 points from 14 in October to 9 this month – a 10 point drop [...] Washington Continues to Ignore Root of Housing ProblemThis post first appeared on Minyanville. Some say the definition of insanity is trying the same thing over and over again, expecting a different result. By that measure, voters should load up on straitjackets this November and drag everyone in Washington off to the nuthouse. Despite overwhelming evidence that we’re in the middle of a [...] Keepin’ It Real Estate: Realtors Try Used-Car Salesman TacticsThis post first appeared on Minyanville. That glitzy McMansion you’ve always wanted may finally be within reach. Or not. If nearly 3 years of home price declines, historically low interest rates and a relentless media barrage of half-truths from the National Association of Realtors haven’t been able to stabilize home prices, it’s doubtful a gimmicky [...] |