Fewer Americans bought homes in August, as investors retreated from real estate and first-time buyers remained scarce. Sales of existing homes fell 1.8 percent to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 5.05 million, the National Association of Realtors said Monday.
That snaps a four-month streak of gains. August sales are down from a July rate of 5.14 million, a figure that was revised slightly downward. Much of the decline came from the exodus of investors, who had been buying properties in the aftermath of the housing bust and recession. Investors accounted for just 12 percent of August purchases, compared to 17 percent a year earlier. Overall, the pace of home sales has dropped 5.3 percent year-over-year.
The August figures show that real estate recovery has depended largely on investors and all-cash sales, instead of families looking to purchasing a house. "It is apparent that much of the juice in the existing-home sales market remains centered in all-cash purchases by speculative buyers," said Joshua Shapiro, chief U.S. economist at the consulting firm MFR. The rebound from the housing bust that triggered the recession has been painfully slow.
The share of Americans who own homes has trended downward over the course of the five year recovery, as more Americans are becoming renters. The ownership rate fell to 64.7 percent through the middle of this year, down from a peak of 69.2 percent toward the end of 2004, according to the Census Bureau.
Home construction plunged 14.4 percent in August compared with the prior month, the Commerce Department said Thursday. Much of that decline was due to a drop-off in building apartment complexes, but single-family home construction also fell 2.4 percent. Applications for building permits, a sign of future activity, dipped 5.6 percent to an annual rate of 998,000.
You need to change the title you have misread the link - The actual title is
US Existing Home Sales Fall in August
Number of houses sold fell, not prices they are still increasing according to the article
Quote:
Home prices are also increasing at a slower clip, which should help ease affordability pressures.
Prices rose 7.4 percent in July from July 2013, according to real estate data provider CoreLogic. That was slightly below June's year-over-year increase of 7.5 percent and far below a recent peak of 11.9 percent in February.
Also the article says nothing about speculators selling. It says that less investors have been buying as a percentage of overall sales.
Definition of a doom and gloomer from 1993 The last camp is made up of the doom-and-gloomers. Their slogan is "it's the end of the world as we know it". Right now they are convinced that debt is the evil responsible for all our economic woes and must be eliminated at all cost. Many doom-and-gloomers believe that unprecedented debt levels mean that we are on the precipice of a worse crisis than the Great Depression. The doom-and-gloomers hang on the latest series of negative economic data.
I'd take issue with the activity being speculative investors. It has been investment companies buying large numbers of houses to hold and rent long-term, which in its way is more disturbing to me.
The truth will set you free. But first, it will piss you off. --Gloria Steinem AREPS™
I'd take issue with the activity being speculative investors. It has been investment companies buying large numbers of houses to hold and rent long-term, which in its way is more disturbing to me.
The interest rates rose and fixed rates borrowers are sensitive to that.
Quote:
After a surge in refinances in the previous week, the volume of mortgage applications continued to slide as interest rates rose to their highest level in several months.
Total mortgage applications for the week ending September 19th fell 4.1 percent on a seasonally adjusted basis from the previous week, according to the Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA).
"Following last week's FOMC (Federal Open Market Committee) meeting, interest rates continued to inch up, as the end of QE (quantitative easing) was confirmed, and investors anticipate the first increase in short-term rates by the middle of next year," said Michael Fratantoni, chief economist at the MBA.
Peter Schiff recently made another appearance on RT News, once more warning that the U.S. Housing market is a bubble primed to burst as speculator investors will be forced to sell into a market without any buyers. http://www.marketoracle.co.uk/Article47119.html
Shadow was hopelessly wrong about the Gold Bull Market. What else is he wrong about?
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