Thursday, July 21, 2011

Existing US home sales fall 'UNEXPECTEDLY' in June 2011-Bloomberg

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7/20/11, "Existing-Home Sales in U.S. Unexpectedly Fall 0.8% to a 4.77 Million Rate," Bloomberg

"Sales of previously owned U.S. homes unexpectedly declined in June to a seven-month low as the industry struggled to overcome rising unemployment and foreclosures.

Purchases dropped 0.8 percent to a 4.77 million pace, data from the National Association of Realtors showed today in Washington. The median projection in a Bloomberg News survey called for a gain to 4.9 million. Inventories increased, more contracts were canceled and 30 percent of transactions last month were of distressed dwellings, the figures showed.

Stricter lending rules, unemployment above 9 percent and delays in processing foreclosures mean it may take years to reduce the number of distressed properties on the market even as all-cash purchases have recently helped buoy demand. Federal Reserve Chairman Ben S. Bernanke last week said the decline in confidence and lack of job growth that are impeding consumer spending are also keeping real estate “depressed.” ...

The number of canceled contracts to buy previously owned homes jumped to 16 percent in June from 4 percent a month earlier. (NAR Chief Economist) Yun said the rise was a “mystery” that the group will look into by surveying Realtors around the country. They have been running in the 9 percent to 10 percent range in the past year....

Today’s report showed existing-home sales decreased in two of four regions, led by a 5.2 percent drop in the Northeast and a 1.7 percent decline in the West....

The inventory of unsold previously owned homes on the market rose to 3.77 million in June from 3.65 million in May. At the current sales pace, it would take 9.5 months to sell those houses, the longest since November, compared with 9.1 months at the end of May. Supply in the eight months to nine months range is consistent with stable home prices, the group has said....

A total of 6.35 million homeowners weren’t current on their loans at the end of May, with 2.16 million in the process of foreclosure, according to data from Lender Processing Services Inc., a Jacksonville, Florida-based provider of mortgage- processing services and data. Foreclosures averaged 580 days after borrowers became delinquent on their loans.

Lender delays in processing home-loan defaults will push as many as 1 million U.S. foreclosure filings from this year into 2012 or beyond, casting an “ominous shadow” on the housing market, RealtyTrac Inc., a housing data provider, said last week. A clogged foreclosure pipeline means it will take longer to clear the inventory of unsold homes and

  • may prevent prices from finding a bottom."...


via Hot Air


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