January Housing Sales Tough All Over
Our monthly housing stats for January reported a huge drop in the number of closings. At the time, I theorized that the drop was due to a combination of bad weather and the projected end of the $8,000 Federal tax credit. Turns out those trends were not just local, but national. here’s a quote from today’s Atlanta Journal Constitution
The Commerce Department reported Wednesday that new home sales dropped 11.2 percent last month to a seasonally adjusted annual sales pace of 309,000 units, the lowest level on records going back nearly a half century. The big drop was a surprise to economists who had expected sales would rise about 5 percent over December’s pace.While winter storms were partly to blame, home sales have fallen for three straight months despite sweeping government support. Economists were already worried that an improvement in sales in the second half of last year could falter as various government support programs are withdrawn.
The article also quotes some industry experts as saying February will be a rough month for housing for many of the same reasons. While I have not looked at the figures, that may be true. I will say that I have been much busier talking to clients in February, which leads me to believe March and April might be much improved.
Here’s the full article — New home sales hit record low in January
