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December 2, 2008 12:14:24 PM CST

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New Home Sales Hit 12-Year Low

Posted Dec 28, 07 11:00 AM CST in Business 

(Newser) – New home sales fell much farther than expected in November, hitting their lowest point since 1995, Bloomberg reports, and the slide only likely to get worse. Sales fell to an annual pace of 647,000, a 9% drop from October’s revised-down 711,000 rate. Prices are falling, but buyers either aren’t interested or can’t get loans because of tighter credit conditions.

Though home inventories fell 1.8% to a 2-year low, demand fell even further. At these prices, there’s a 9.3-month supply, up from October’s 8.8. New home sales are down 34% for the year and figure to keep falling throughout ’08. “It will be a difficult year,” said one homebuilder CEO, who plans to “pare down inventories in virtually all our markets.”

Source Bloomberg

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Homes are offered for sale in the Fair Oaks Ranch development in Santa Clarita, Calif., in this March 14, 2007, file photo. (AP Photo/Reed Saxon)   (Associated Press)
An overgrown sign sits on the lawn of an old house for sale in Newtown, Penn., in this May 30, 2007 file photo. (AP Photo/Mel Evans, file)   (Associated Press)
Construction worker Jorge Ruiz works on a new D.R. Horton home in Fort Worth, Texas in this July 24, 2007 file photo. (AP Photo/Donna McWilliam)   (Associated Press)
A newly constructed home in Walpole, Mass is seen Thursday, Nov. 29, 2007. (AP Photo/Steven Senne)   (Associated Press)
Construction workers frame a new house in Gilbert, Ariz. in this Aug. 31, 2007 file photo. (AP Photo/Matt York, file)   (Associated Press)
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credit crisis • subprime mortgages • housing market • housing crisis • home sales • home loans


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