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Realtors and Builders Push Government to Stimulate Housing Economics Written by Jonathan Smoke    11.07.2008 As the housing, credit and now full-fledged economic crisis deepens, the housing industry’s two largest organizations are lobbying for directed efforts to stimulate demand. During their annual convention in Orlando yesterday, the National Association of Realtors announced a concerted effort to push Congress and the Treasury Department to focus on housing. No comments for this item Read more...

Housing Futures Predict Bleak Future Housing Derivatives Written by Jonathan Smoke    10.29.2008 I enjoy reviewing the weekly TFS Housing Market Metrics report produced by the US Property Desk of Tradition Financial Services. Their report summarizes the current housing future settlement prices from the CME as well as other spot and OTC metrics. This morning’s report hit my inbox as I was reviewing yesterday’s S&P Case-Shiller release of August home price indices. The August Case-Shiller price indices showed poor performance for the tracked markets compared to July and August 2007. The only “bright spot” in the report was that the “acceleration in decline was only moderate in August.” No comments for this item Read more...   September New Home Sales Defy Expectations Economics Written by Jonathan Smoke    10.27.2008 The Commerce Department reported the preliminary reading of new home sales in September today, and the results surprised many. Economists and analysts had been expecting a decline. After all, Wall Street lost its collective head starting in September, and the recent builder sentiment readings showed continued declines. According to the report, sales of new homes in September 2008 were at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 464,000, which is 2.7% above the downwardly revised August rate of 452,000. The monthly change was not statistically significant—which means based on the survey technique, it’s not clear if sales were up or down or just plain sideways. No comments for this item Read more...   Surge in Existing Home Sales Signals the Beginning of the End in Some Areas Economics Written by Jonathan Smoke    10.26.2008 The National Association of Realtors released data on September existing home sales on Friday. The report was the most positive report we’ve seen since the downturn began in 2006. According to the report, total existing-home sales increased 5.5% in September to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 5.18 million units from a level of 4.91 million in August. Year over year the September figure was 1.4% higher than the 5.11 million-unit pace in September 2007. No comments for this item Read more...   National Economists See New Home Sales Improving in 2009 Economics Written by Jonathan Smoke    10.22.2008 An esteemed group of economists and analysts took turns presenting views and forecasts for housing today at the National Association of Home Builder’s Construction Forecast Conference in Washington, DC. While they all pointed to significant problems and risks still abounding in the market, most pointed to the bottom of new home sales being reached by the end of this year or during the coming winter. If you missed the conference you can still access copies of the slides that were presented from the NAHB web site. No comments for this item Read more...   New Home Construction Continues to Decline As It Should Economics Written by Jonathan Smoke    10.20.2008 The Commerce Department reported the initial reading of September housing permits and starts last Friday. The numbers were a reflection of the depressed demand environment. While indeed permits and starts were at multi-year lows, the limited production levels are where the market needs them to be until demand returns to normal. The Commerce Department report showed that total housing permits in September were at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 786,000, which is 8.3% below the revised August rate of 857,000 and is 38.4% below the revised September 2007 rate of 1,277,000. No comments for this item Read more...   Builder Sentiment Hits a New Low Economics Written by Jonathan Smoke    10.16.2008 Yesterday the National Association of Home Builders and Wells Fargo released the October reading of builder sentiment known as the Housing Market Index. New lows were recorded in the survey-based monthly reading of builder opinions. NAHB Chief Economist David Seiders was quoted in NAHB’s press release as follows: This item includes 1 comment Read more...

More... Pending Home Sales Increase Significantly in August July Case-Shiller Readings Show Few Signs of Bottoms in Home Prices Emergency Act, Needed or Not, Is Likely to Have Long-Lasting Impact Decomposing the Inventory of New Homes for Sale The Latest New Home Stats Point to a Demand Problem Existing Home Sales and Inventories Down in August No Surprise That Starts and Permits Are Down Some Truth About Historical Foreclosure Rates, Please Top Economists Sound Like Broken Record Regarding Housing Outlook July Pending Home Sales Down

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