Housing starts and permits data for February just hit the tape. Here’s a recap of the numbers:
* Housing starts fell 5.9% to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 575,000 in February, which sounds worse than the -3.6% forecast. But the January starts figure was revised up to 611,000 from 591,000 and the raw number that economists [...]
From the category archives:
Real Estate
The National Association of Home Builders just released its latest report on the housing industry. The overall index fell to 15 in March from 17 in February. Among the subindices, the index tracking present sales declined to 15 from 17, while the index measuring perceptions about future sales dropped to 24 from 27. Those figures [...]
The pending home sales figures for January just hit the tape. Here’s a recap:
* Sales dropped 7.6% between December and January. That compared to the 1% gain that economists were expecting.
* At 90.4, the index was up up 12.4% from the year-ago level of 80.4.
* By region, pendings fell across the board. They slipped 2.1% [...]
The new home sales report for January was downright dismal. So how did the existing market fare?
* Existing home sales dropped 7.2% to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 5.05 million in January. That was well below forecasts for a reading of 5.5 million.
* Regionally, sales were down across the board. They fell 5.2% in [...]
The latest new home sales figures came out a little while ago. No sugar-coating these numbers. they stink. More details:
* New home sales plunged 11.2% in January to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 309,000 from an upwardly revised 348,000 in December. That was much worse than the 354,000 figure economists were expecting and below [...]
The latest S&P/Case-Shiller data on home prices was released this morning. The 20-city index rose 0.3% between November and December, the biggest monthly rise since August. On a year-over-year basis, prices are still down 3.1%. But that’s the smallest decline going all the way back to May 2007. Prices are actually UP from year-ago levels [...]
The Mortgage Bankers Association just released figures on Q4 2009 home loan performance. What did the numbers show?
* The overall mortgage delinquency rate fell to 9.47% in Q4 2009 from 9.64% in Q3 2009. That’s the first quarter-over-quarter decline in delinquencies since Q1 2007. Of particular note: The percentage of loans 30 days behind on [...]
Pending homes sales figures were just released for December. Here’s what the numbers showed:
* Sales rose 1% between November and December. That was right in line with what economists were expecting.
* At 96.6, the index was up 10.9% from the year-ago level of 87.1.
* By region, pending sales were broadly higher. They climbed 2.2% in [...]
We just got the latest new home sales figures for the month of December. Here’s what they showed:
* New home sales dropped 7.6% to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 342,000 from an upwardly revised 370,000 in November. That missed expectations for a sales rate of 366,000, and it leaves sales at the lowest level [...]
The National Association of Realtors came out with its pending home sales data for November a little while ago. Here’s what the numbers looked like:
* Pending sales plunged 16%. That compared with an expected decline of 2%. Yikes!
* On a year-over-year basis, the pending sales index actually rose 15.5% to 96 from 83.1.
* Regionally, sales [...]
