Number of Unsold Homes Hits Record High

Buzz Mills · Feb 27, 2006

Number of Unsold Homes Hits Record High

WASHINGTON - The backlog of unsold new homes reached a record level last month, as sales slipped despite the warmest January in more than 100 years. The Commerce Department reported Monday that sales of new single-family homes dropped by 5 percent to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 1.233 million units last month. That was the slowest pace since January 2005 and left the number of unsold homes at a record high of 528,000.

Analysts viewed the new data as further evidence that the nation's red-hot housing market, which hit record sales levels for five straight years, has definitely started to cool. "The decline in new home sales in January makes it clear that there is some real softening in the housing market," said Joel Naroff, chief economist at Naroff Economic Advisors.

The 5 percent decline was bigger than expected, dashing hopes that the milder-than-normal January would help to bolster demand. The warm weather had pushed up the level of construction starts last month by 14.5 percent, the fastest rate in three decades. But the new report showed that with sales lagging, the increase in building activity left a total of 528,000 new homes still for sale at the end of the month, a nine-year high.

http://tinyurl.com/q5a2l

JBean · Feb 27, 2006

Buzzm1 said:
Number of Unsold Homes Hits Record High

WASHINGTON - The backlog of unsold new homes reached a record level last month, as sales slipped despite the warmest January in more than 100 years. The Commerce Department reported Monday that sales of new single-family homes dropped by 5 percent to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 1.233 million units last month. That was the slowest pace since January 2005 and left the number of unsold homes at a record high of 528,000.

Analysts viewed the new data as further evidence that the nation's red-hot housing market, which hit record sales levels for five straight years, has definitely started to cool. "The decline in new home sales in January makes it clear that there is some real softening in the housing market," said Joel Naroff, chief economist at Naroff Economic Advisors.

The 5 percent decline was bigger than expected, dashing hopes that the milder-than-normal January would help to bolster demand. The warm weather had pushed up the level of construction starts last month by 14.5 percent, the fastest rate in three decades. But the new report showed that with sales lagging, the increase in building activity left a total of 528,000 new homes still for sale at the end of the month, a nine-year high.

http://tinyurl.com/q5a2l

All I can say is that home prices here in SoCal continue to climb and the inventory just isn't there. Supply and demand in play around these parts.
Maybe it starts in the east and moves this way.

lynie · Feb 28, 2006

Yep Miss Jelly...us too up in Or-eee-gone. Houses are moving fast and furiously...new and existing...

Lynie

deanws · Feb 28, 2006

I wish my house would sell. It has been on the market for almost a year. It is huge, so that is part of the problem.:doh:

JBean · Feb 28, 2006

deandaniellws said:
I wish my house would sell. It has been on the market for almost a year. It is huge, so that is part of the problem.:doh:

Don't huge houses sell where you are?

Marthatex · Feb 28, 2006

Not in MY town. Already high prices are POPPING up this year - people are starting to get in bidding wars again. Houses will sell in one or two days. $10,000 above your asking price.

We have bought several houses and fixed them up over the last 10 years, so we are thrilled about this. Hope it lasts.

Marthatex · Feb 28, 2006

JBean said:
Don't huge houses sell where you are?

Huge houses here, priced over a million, have a market, but take longer to sell as a rule.

deanws · Feb 28, 2006

JBean said:
Don't huge houses sell where you are?

Not in Baytown. It is 5200 sq feet. It has 6 bedrooms, dine formal and living room formal, two laundry rooms and two dens, a playroom/or office. 4 full baths and 1 guest half bathroom. It has a covered BBQ picnic area and a pool. It is a lot of house. People usually don't want a house that big. We had a blended family ...5 kids, so we used every inch of it! LOL. All the kids are gone...either in college or married. We retired and moved to Kosse. It would be nice to get rid of the house in Baytown. It is too much trouble keeping the house up here where we now live, and worrying about another house that is four hours away.

JBean · Feb 28, 2006

deandaniellws said:
Not in Baytown. It is 5200 sq feet. It has 6 bedrooms, dine formal and living room formal, two laundry rooms and two dens, a playroom/or office. 4 full baths and 1 guest half bathroom. It has a covered BBQ picnic area and a pool. It is a lot of house. People usually don't want a house that big. We had a blended family ...5 kids, so we used every inch of it! LOL. All the kids are gone...either in college or married. We retired and moved to Kosse. It would be nice to get rid of the house in Baytown. It is too much trouble keeping the house up here where we now live, and worrying about another house that is four hours away.

Bring it out here, everyone wants houses that size.There is still a very strong market for houses over 5000 sq feet around the coast.
I have a friend that was just complaining that she had downsized from 12000 sq feet to 8000 sq feet and she didn't have enough room for all her stuff LOL! Needless to say she's got a lot of stuff!

JBean · Feb 28, 2006

Marthatex said:
Huge houses here, priced over a million, have a market, but take longer to sell as a rule.

Our RE market is just so nuts here. A million bucks will not buy you a huge house anymore. I don't know how my kids will buy their first house. a 2 bedroom 2 bath condo goes for about 4 to 500K.

Marthatex · Feb 28, 2006

JBean said:
Our RE market is just so nuts here. A million bucks will not buy you a huge house anymore. I don't know how my kids will buy their first house. a 2 bedroom 2 bath condo goes for about 4 to 500K.

See how far ours have to go up? The Californians and others come here and think everything's a good deal. We who work and live here, though, think homes are sky high especially for younger people trying to break in. You have to drive 45 min to an hour to get a lower priced house.

Our basic problem here is we have HUGE property taxes. They cost almost as much as the house payment. People are still buying though, I guess because of the low interest rate and stretch it out 30 years. We are having ALOT of foreclosures though. I have friends trying to make deals on foreclosures, but that's a full time job.

Oh well, the bubble could always pop, but I'm dreaming of being a rich real estate maven 10 years from now.

"Oh, dahling, do you want to see my North Property, or my South Bungalow? Weeell, I might be willing let it go for 2 mil......." "But someone else wants it and MAY bid on it NEXT week...." Better hurry, honey.

IdahoMom · Feb 28, 2006

4 bedrooms, 4 baths, 3300 asf, .33 acre lot for $659,000

IdahoMom · Feb 28, 2006

deandaniellws said:
Not in Baytown. It is 5200 sq feet. It has 6 bedrooms, dine formal and living room formal, two laundry rooms and two dens, a playroom/or office. 4 full baths and 1 guest half bathroom. It has a covered BBQ picnic area and a pool. It is a lot of house. People usually don't want a house that big. We had a blended family ...5 kids, so we used every inch of it! LOL. All the kids are gone...either in college or married. We retired and moved to Kosse. It would be nice to get rid of the house in Baytown. It is too much trouble keeping the house up here where we now live, and worrying about another house that is four hours away.

Does your house have any rooms that would work for a mother-in-law set-up (adjoining bath, etc)? You could play up the mother-in-law set-up. You wouldn't believe how many people I have encountered that are looking for that. That might help. Also, I have seen instances where people want 4 bedrooms, plus 2 or 3 studies. Why not change the number of bedrooms in the Multiple Listing Service to 4 or 5 and put in MLS that it has 4 bedrooms and 2 studies? Then stage the 2 bedrooms like they're office type spaces. The problem might be that if it's listed as 6 bedrooms, you're missing out on all those buyers that want lots of square ftg, but not 6 bedrooms. Does that make sense? If it's listed w/6 rooms, everyone looking for 4 bedrooms, with extra, flexible sq ftg will not see it. It won't even come up in their Realtor's search.

JBean · Feb 28, 2006

IdahoMom said:
4 bedrooms, 4 baths, 3300 asf, .33 acre lot for $659,000

That would be 1.5 to 2.5 million here depending on the area

there is a listing on the water that cracks me up. it is a 2 bedroom 2 bath 1034 sq foot condo and it is listed for 2.5

IdahoMom · Feb 28, 2006

JBean said:
That would be 1.5 to 2.5 million here depending on the area

there is a listing on the water that cracks me up. it is a 2 bedroom 2 bath 1034 sq foot condo and it is listed for 2.5

I know-that's why I love California buyers! They think we have BARGAINS and happily pay what we want. That said, I do think that a recent influx of California investors have driven our housing prices up. Many will buy homes over the internet, sight unseen, and not worry about renting them out. They leave them vacant (no wear and tear that way), then turn around and sell them 6-9 months later for a sweet profit.

lilpony · Feb 28, 2006

deandaniellws said:
Not in Baytown. It is 5200 sq feet. It has 6 bedrooms, dine formal and living room formal, two laundry rooms and two dens, a playroom/or office. 4 full baths and 1 guest half bathroom. It has a covered BBQ picnic area and a pool. It is a lot of house. People usually don't want a house that big. We had a blended family ...5 kids, so we used every inch of it! LOL. All the kids are gone...either in college or married. We retired and moved to Kosse. It would be nice to get rid of the house in Baytown. It is too much trouble keeping the house up here where we now live, and worrying about another house that is four hours away.

I want your house, it sounds awesome! Me and hubby would love it! We would have to move though, but I wouldn't mind that either. :waitasec:

PaperDoll · Feb 28, 2006

JBean said:
That would be 1.5 to 2.5 million here depending on the area

there is a listing on the water that cracks me up. it is a 2 bedroom 2 bath 1034 sq foot condo and it is listed for 2.5

I believe it... my little, and I do mean LITTLE, cardboard box of a condo, is worth over triple what I paid for it and I don't have an ocean view.. I have a view of the mountains and other homes... I could not rebuy around here on my dinky small salary... Did I mention that I work with JBean's hubbs? hehe maybe he could put in a good word for me... lol... :blowkiss:

JBean · Feb 28, 2006

PaperDoll said:
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I believe it... my little, and I do mean LITTLE, cardboard box of a condo, is worth over triple what I paid for it and I don't have an ocean view.. I have a view of the mountains and other homes... I could not rebuy around here on my dinky small salary... Did I mention that I work with JBean's hubbs? hehe maybe he could put in a good word for me... lol... :blowkiss:

PD you should be making top salary over there for all you do. :blowkiss:

HeartofTexas · Feb 28, 2006

Did I mention that I work with JBean's hubbs?

And just how many "hubbs" does JBean have! LOL!

PaperDoll · Feb 28, 2006

JBean said:
PD you should be making top salary over there for all you do. :blowkiss:

Yeah, I should be shouldn't I... afterall, it's hard to be on WS and work at the same time... :silenced: hehe

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