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US existing home sales plunge
AFP
AFP - 12 minutes ago
WASHINGTON (AFP) - – Existing US home sales plunged a whopping 27.2 percent in July to levels unseen in more than a decade, an industry group said Tuesday, casting new doubts on the recovery of the world largest economy.
The White House described as "tough" the latest data tracking the housing sector, which was at the epicenter of the financial crisis, and vowed to do everything possible to keep the recovery on track.
Sales of single-family homes, townhomes and condominiums dropped to a seasonally-adjusted 3.83 million units from a revised 5.26 million units in June, said the National Association of Realtors (NAR).
The plunge was more than double the 12.1 percent expected by most economists, who had forecast sales to slump to 4.72 million units in July from the previously reported 5.37 million units.
July sales were at the lowest level since the existing-home sales series was launched by the association in 1999, and single-family home sales -- accounting for the bulk of transactions -- were at the lowest since May 1995, the association said.
It was the third straight month of declining sales.
Still, they may not have hit bottom yet despite ultra low mortgage interest rates and historically high housing affordability conditions.
"A soft sales pace likely will continue for a few additional months" amid the slowdown in economic recovery and high unemployment, said Lawrence Yun, NAR chief economist.
The sharp decline was payback for the May expiry of a government homebuyers' tax credit incentive introduced to boost economic recovery from a brutal recession in December 2007.
A housing mortgage meltdown had triggered the financial crisis that plunged the world's largest economy into the worst recession in decades.
July 2010 sales were 25.5 percent below the 5.14 million-unit level in the same month last year, data showed.
AFP
AFP - 12 minutes ago
WASHINGTON (AFP) - – Existing US home sales plunged a whopping 27.2 percent in July to levels unseen in more than a decade, an industry group said Tuesday, casting new doubts on the recovery of the world largest economy.
The White House described as "tough" the latest data tracking the housing sector, which was at the epicenter of the financial crisis, and vowed to do everything possible to keep the recovery on track.
Sales of single-family homes, townhomes and condominiums dropped to a seasonally-adjusted 3.83 million units from a revised 5.26 million units in June, said the National Association of Realtors (NAR).
The plunge was more than double the 12.1 percent expected by most economists, who had forecast sales to slump to 4.72 million units in July from the previously reported 5.37 million units.
July sales were at the lowest level since the existing-home sales series was launched by the association in 1999, and single-family home sales -- accounting for the bulk of transactions -- were at the lowest since May 1995, the association said.
It was the third straight month of declining sales.
Still, they may not have hit bottom yet despite ultra low mortgage interest rates and historically high housing affordability conditions.
"A soft sales pace likely will continue for a few additional months" amid the slowdown in economic recovery and high unemployment, said Lawrence Yun, NAR chief economist.
The sharp decline was payback for the May expiry of a government homebuyers' tax credit incentive introduced to boost economic recovery from a brutal recession in December 2007.
A housing mortgage meltdown had triggered the financial crisis that plunged the world's largest economy into the worst recession in decades.
July 2010 sales were 25.5 percent below the 5.14 million-unit level in the same month last year, data showed.
