I never would have believed it, but after double checking my math, it looks like everyone over 16 who moved to Las Vegas (Clark County) bought 1.07 homes in the month of June.  If you are skeptical, look at the June data from The Center for Business and Economic Research at UNLV.  The center tracks a number of economic indicators, but these were the figures that drew my attention:

Early today I read an Associated Press story to the effect that Fannie Mae will miss it’s second quarter financial report. Now when I go to google news and search |”Fannie Mae” 2q| I get about 40 hits with information like this … Fannie Mae Delays Filing 2Q Report Lakeland Ledger, FL – 10 hours ago Mortgage giant Fannie Mae on Wednesday informed the Securities and Exchange Commission that it would not be able to file its financial report for the second …

(Or why I’d look at renting this house) It’s a buyer’s market, we are being told. This year’s normalized market is offering us a wide selection of homes to choose from. Builders are offering all kinds of incentives- now is the time to buy"! Two weeks ago I reviewed the financing offered by Shea Homes in an Arizona Republic ad.  I came to the conclusion that it wasn’t a bad deal- if you didn’t mind doubling your home payment after five years. This week I again turned to the Arizona Republic’s Home section to find a new deal for home…
Read more…

It’s hard to know what to believe anymore. You see all the “For Sale” signs, you hear about rising interest rates, and rising inventory- but then you read that the median price continues to go up. If the market is really going down, how can that be? Housingdoom has it’s own “Deepthroat”- a local realtor who is our insider in the real estate industry. Here’s his response when asked about median prices:

The Arizona Real Estate Center puts out a quarterly report documenting Phoenix area home sales. This is an excellent source for data: http://www.poly.asu.edu/arec/studies/annual/Sales%20Q206.doc

“THE GUY WITH A BOMB STRAPPED TO HIS CHEST” “House prices are set to drop in the US for the first time on record, US investment bank Goldman Sachs warned this weekend.” With that statement from a July 29 article [1], we all entered a different world. No longer can Joe Sixpack count on constantly increasing home equity to bail him out of his financial problems. Any significant nationwide drop in house prices will inevitably force many homeowners into default. From now on, investment in mortgages is going to get riskier. And it’s not just individuals who will be affected….
Read more…

I asked a local realtor to check on the Phoenix area vacancy rate for me, and this was the reply-  I’m not elaborating this morning- I believe the realtor covered the subject most succinctly:

Yesterday’s post looked at a Beazer ad from the Arizona Republic.  Beazer listed both an old price and a new price. Beazer did not define old, however.  I was surprised when a local realtor (who prefers to remain anonymous) kindly let me know.  Here’s the comment: Beazer has not updated any of their prices since January ’06. almost all builders have made "adjustments" 2-6 times this year.  (The examples sent to me showed these "adjustments" were all down) Yesterday I randomly checked UNHS for Gilbert developments for price movement- soft landing my %$#%!!  Even at these lower prices builders are STILL offering generous incentives.  In…
Read more…

Things keep looking tougher for the housing market, and are getting tougher at a faster rate.  According to yesterday’s MSNBCreport  in Are Housing Prices Heading Downward?, As the slump in the U.S. housing market picks up speed, homeowners and sellers in the once-hottest markets of the country now face the biggest price declines, say analysts. And even if the U.S. economy remains healthy, it could be a year or more before the market bottoms out, they say.

Last Tuesday’s USAToday ran a scathing editorial called Real Estate Status Quo Seals Raw Deal for Consumers.  USAToday pulled no punches when it stated, Ever wonder why real estate commissions have stayed above 5% even as home prices have surged? Ever wonder why an agent of 20 years gets the same commission as a rookie? Or why the Internet, which has revolutionized other businesses, has had relatively little effect on real estate?

The "soft landing" folks were out celebrating yesterday- the pending home sales numbers were out from the National Association of Realtors (NAR).  The headlines proclaimed, Realtors: Pending Home Sales Rise.   The National Association of Realtors’ index for pending sales of existing homes increased at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 0.4 percent to 113.9 from May’s 113.5, the industry group said Tuesday. The NAR put the best possible spin on this news: 

Wow, has the housing market changed fast this summer.  Analysts have gone from using terms like soft landing and downturn, and have started replacing them with words like crash and blood bath.  It’s not just the Bubbleheads with the dire prognostications anymore.  Consider the following from Goldman Sachs on 7/29: