Sales of existing homes down in 41 states

AlfredSokol said: "The bad news for home sales is sort of stunning lately. [url=http://biz.yahoo.com/ap/070815/home_sales.html?.v=7]Sales of existing homes in 41 states[/url] are down. [quote] Sales of existing homes fell in 41 states during the April-June quarter while home prices were down in one-third of the metropolitan areas surveyed, a real estate trade group reported Wednesday. The new figures from the National Association of Realtors underscored the severity of the current housing slump, the worst downturn in 16 years. However, Realtors officials said they saw some glimmers of hope in the data. They noted that existing home prices were up in 97 of the 149 metropolitan areas surveyed compared with the sales prices of a year ago.[/quote] The states that have been hit the hardest should be no surprise to SI readers. [quote] The states suffering the biggest drop in sales in the second quarter, compared to the same period a year ago, were Florida, down 41.3 percent, and Nevada, down 37.5 percent. Other states with big declines were Arizona, down 23.4 percent; Tennessee, down 21.5 percent; Maryland, down 21.1 percent, and California, down 19.8 percent.[/quote] So the decline in home sales is just as bad as everyone expected. Scary times for all."

Pb3190 said: "Very bad time indeed for folks looking to sell a home. I know some people who buy 'fixer up' homes, fix them and then sell them. Or try to sell anyway. One of the homes has been on the market for almost a year now, with very little interest. New builds are still selling strong, but the market for existing homes in my area is not very good at all."

lil dickie said: "Yeah those numbers are bad. 41% down in Florida. I think the best bet in some case will be to sit tight. I would rather live where I did than take a loss on a house. But I guess if you get transferred or something you could be in a world of hurt."

Darren said: "I would assume this has a major negative affect on consumer confidence in those states, also. If you live in fear of being trapped in your hous, and you can't refinance, where does that leave you? Where will people get money from if they can't use their house as a virtual ATM?"

Aligator said: "[QUOTE=Darren]I would assume this has a major negative affect on consumer confidence in those states, also. If you live in fear of being trapped in your hous, and you can't refinance, where does that leave you? Where will people get money from if they can't use their house as a virtual ATM?[/QUOTE] Well, they ain't gonna live in Texas. When we lived there 10 years ago there was NO SUCH THING as a 2nd mortgage. Illegal."

thezster said: "[QUOTE=lil dickie]Yeah those numbers are bad. 41% down in Florida. I think the best bet in some case will be to sit tight. I would rather live where I did than take a loss on a house. But I guess if you get transferred or something you could be in a world of hurt.[/QUOTE] As one who gets transferred about every 12 months - I would point out that selling your house in a down market means buying a house in a down market.... it's not all that disheartening..... I will admit I'm in a small minority inasmuch as my wife's employer will guarantee us the price we bought our last house at when we sell.... so getting transferred in a down market is really nice for us...."

fumoney said: "Im in florida, as a matter of fact my county ranks 13 on the most fucked county in florida scale. Having several friends in the real estate biz, theyre all saying the same thing, that most homes under 175k are actually selling and theyve held a few open houses lately, land is also getting some interest. Not alot, but a little more so than the past few months. It seems that some of the bargain finders are coming out of the woodwork. Well probably have to wait another month or two when our snowbirds come down to start things up here. IMO if our hurricane season is lite and our property taxes actually come down a little, we will have HOPEFULLY seen the worst of the real estate debaucle here in florida."