New-Home Sales Hit Lowest Level Since '91

Related Newser Stories

• Housing Slump Won't Ease Anytime Soon, Says Study

  Jun 23, 08 7:48 AM CDT
  Rising mortgage rates and a tenacious slump in sales and home values will continue to depress the worst housing market in decades, reports Reuters. Don't expect potential saviors—new home buyers—to make a dent any time soon, says a Harvard study. With mortgage rates at a 9-month high, credit tight, and foreclosures on the rise, they will likely wait until the market hits bottom, and it appears to have a ways to go.  More »

• TV Home Shows Boom During Bust

  Jun 12, 08 9:20 AM CDT
  Home shows are becoming the heavyweights of reality television, even as the housing market continues to plummet, the New York Times reports. HGTV and TLC have million-plus nightly audiences as shows that provide step-by-step guidance to potential homesellers and buyers appeal to viewers weary of past hits that traded on big bucks through real-estate speculation. More »

• Foreclosure Sales Rebound as Buyers Snap Up Deals

  May 27, 08 7:31 AM CDT
  April generally was not a great month for home sales, the Wall Street Journal reports—except in the areas hardest hit by the subprime crisis as lenders slash prices on foreclosed homes and buyers snap them up. Subprime-riddled Detroit, for example, has seen home sales rise 48% in the past four months over last year; but prices have dropped 56%. More »

• Home, Retail Sales Keep Sliding

  May 13, 08 11:36 AM CDT
  The housing market continued to plunge in the first quarter of 2008, as single-family sales dropped 22% from their year-ago pace, to 4.95 million annually. Bloomberg reports that the median home price is off 7.7% from a year ago, to $196,300, as foreclosed properties drag down values. Meanwhile, US retail sales were off in April, mainly because of a big drop in autos. More »

• Down in Polls, Brown Admits 'Mistakes'

  Apr 30, 08 3:25 PM CDT
  With polls predicting big losses for his Labour party in tomorrow’s local elections, British Prime Minister Gordon Brown admitted he’d made mistakes in the past six months, Reuters reports. Chiefly, Brown acknowledged increasing the tax burden on the lowest-paid workers and those aged 60-64, but said both problems were currently being “dealt with.” More »