Pending Home Sales Take Giant Plunge

Pending home sales fell 2.6% in November from a revised 3.7% October gain, Bloomberg reports, far outstripping the 0.7% fall analysts predicted after an originally reported 0.6% October gain. The figures support Henry Paulson’s gloomy outlook on the housing market. “There is no evidence it is bottoming,” the treasury secretary said today, reiterating his call for government help for all mortgage holders, not just subprime borrowers.

The index is down 19% on the year and will fall further, analysts predict. “There’s more bad news to come in housing before it gets better,” said one economist. KB Home, the fifth-largest homebuilder in the US, reported big fourth-quarter losses today as record foreclosures continued to flood the market with homes; there was a 10.3-month supply in November. (More housing crisis stories.)