Sales Of Pending Homes Lowest Since 2001

If you're new here, you may want to subscribe to my RSS feed. Thanks for visiting!

After the boom comes the bust. That’s the phase we’re in right now when it comes to new home sales. For years homes were being built and at a pace that seemingly couldn’t be satisfied. Now there’s a glut of homes and nary a buyer in sight. July sales of new homes were just about the lowest ever, according to the National Association of Realtors.

July’s reading of 89.9 was the second-lowest ever for the index and its lowest since September 2001, when the economy was jolted by the terrorist attacks.

“Numbers like this should put to rest the belief that we’ve reached the bottom” in the housing market, said Joel Naroff, chief economist for Commerce Bancorp Inc. “There’s still a lot of pain that’s ahead of us.”

The index is designed to predict sales levels over the following two months. A reading of 100 is equal to the average level of pending sales activity in 2001, when the index began.

The problems don’t seem to have and end in sight, and even measures to bail out the mortgage industry won’t come in time to save most people who are affected.

It’s a buyer’s market for new homes right now.

If you enjoyed this post, subscribe to the Superior Investor Blog RSS feed!.