Existing Home Contracts Down in February

Declines could hurt broader recovery

(NEWSER) - The housing market is cratering again, dousing the optimism that pervaded earlier this year. Prices fell for the third straight month in October, according to the S&P/Case Shiller index released yesterday, and economists expect them to keep dropping through early spring, wiping out any progress made since the market’s low in early 2009. “This looks like a double dip is pretty much on the way, if not already here,” one S&P economist tells the Wall Street Journal . More»

Sales pace falls way short of 330K expected

(AP) - Sales of new US homes dropped sharply last month to the slowest pace on record, the latest sign that the economic recovery is fading. The Commerce Department says new home sales fell 12.4% in July from a month earlier to a seasonally adjusted annual sales pace of 276,600. That was the slowest pace on records dating back to 1963. More»

Largest drop since records began in 1968

(AP) - Sales of previously occupied US homes fell to the lowest level in 15 years last month as the economy weakened. The National Association of Realtors says July's sales fell by more than 27% to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 3.83 million. It is the largest monthly drop noted since recording began in 1968. June's sales pace was revised downward to 5.26 million. More»

Those days are done, say economists

(NEWSER) - In the good old days, a house was generally synonymous with "cash cow," a rapidly appreciating investment that all but guaranteed a comfortable retirement and paid for college tuition and vacations along the way. Those days of quick appreciation are gone, say economists, and have been replaced by a new reality in which housing value keep up with inflation—and that's it. More»

(NEWSER) - Another wave of foreclosures is on the way, possibly as early as this summer, threatening to upend a housing market that had begun to stabilize, the LA Times reports. Though loan defaults are up sharply, banks have been delaying foreclosures lately thanks to the Obama administration’s home-stability plan. Now with many government and self-imposed foreclosure moratoriums set to expire, big lenders have signaled that they’ll be cleaning house. More»