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Notes to myself, possibly of interest to others.
-- Bill Northlich

Thursday, May 19, 2011

Housing slide continues

  • April Existing Home Sales totaled 5.05mm annualized, 150k below forecasts and down from 5.09mm in March.
  • Sales for both single family and condos/co-ops were down and because the absolute number of homes for sale rose by 350k to the most since Sept, the months supply rose to 9.2 from 8.3, the most since Nov.
  • The median home price fell 5% y/o/y. Distressed sales made up 37% of sales vs 40% in March.
Bouncing along the bottom remains the theme and highlighting the influence of tight lending standards and stricter appraisal readings, the NAR said 15-20% of home sales are being held back “due to the very restrictive loan underwriting standards” and 11% of contracts were cancelled because an appraisal was below the negotiated price, 10% had a contract delayed and 14% said a contract price was “renegotiated to a lower sales price as a result of a low appraisal.” Also unsaid by the NAR, more want to rent than own right now.
---Peter Boockvar

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