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Betreff des ThemasU.S. New-Home Sales in September Rise 2.7%
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59868, U.S. New-Home Sales in September Rise 2.7%
Eingetragen von Finanzer, 27.10.08 15:16
U.S. New-Home Sales in September Rise 2.7% to a 464,000 Pace

Sales of new houses in the U.S.
unexpectedly rose in September from a 17-year low, propelled by a
drop in prices ahead of the latest turmoil in financial markets.
Purchases increased 2.7 percent to an annual rate of 464,000
from 452,000 the prior month that was less than previously
estimated, the Commerce Department said today in Washington. The
median sales price decreased to a four-year low.
The drumbeat of builder bankruptcies since the middle of last
year and frozen credit markets signal a collapse in mortgage
lending that may extend the housing recession into a fourth year.
Federal Reserve policy makers, meeting this week, are projected to
cut interest rates again in a bid to alleviate the damage from the
collapse in financial markets.
``The housing sector suffered another blow in September with
the seizing-up of financial markets,'' Peter Kretzmer, a senior
economist at Bank of America Corp. in New York, said before the
report. ``The headwinds will suppress sales well into 2009.''
Economists forecast new home sales would drop to a 450,000
annual pace from an originally reported 460,000 rate the prior
month, according to the median estimate in a Bloomberg survey of
59 economists. Forecasts ranged from 400,000 to 501,000.
The median price of a new home decreased 9.1 percent from a
year earlier to $218,400, the lowest since September 2004.
Sales were down 33 percent from September 2007, the Commerce
report showed.
On a positive note, builders cut inventories at a record
pace. The number of homes for sale fell to a seasonally adjusted
394,000, the fewest since June 2004. The 7.3 percent decline from
August was the biggest since record keeping began in 1963.

Supply Falls

The supply of homes at the current sales rate fell to 10.4
months' worth from 11.4 months. A five to six months' supply is
often cited as signaling a stable market.
The increase in purchases was paced by a 23 percent surge in
the West. Sales dropped 21 percent in the Northeast and 5.8
percent in the Midwest.
Home resales rose a more-than-forecast 5.5 percent in
September to a 5.18 million pace, the highest level in a year, the
National Association of Realtors said on Oct. 24. The gain was
driven by sales of distressed properties, which comprised up to 40
percent of the total, the Realtors group said. The median price
fell 9 percent.
Sales of previously owned homes are compiled from closings
and reflect contracts signed weeks or months earlier. New-home
purchases, while accounting for only about 10 percent of total
sales, are considered a timelier indicator because they are based
on contract signings.

Government Efforts

The biggest housing recession in a generation was showing
signs of nearing a bottom in sales when financial markets began to
implode in September, leading to the government takeover of
mortgage finance companies Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae. A $700
billion rescue plan and coordinated rate cuts by central banks
around the world followed.
Stricter lending regulations and tumbling home prices make it
harder for Americans to tap home equity for extra cash. Consumer
spending in the third quarter probably fell for the first time
since 1991, and may have tipped the economy into a recession,
according to economists surveyed earlier this month.
Home prices have fallen by about a fifth from their highs in
mid-2006, according to the S&P/Case-Shiller home prices index of
20 major cities. Falling prices mean more Americans can't
refinance their mortgages, prompting foreclosures to surge to
record levels in the third quarter. That, in turn, may cause
prices to fall further.

`Vicious' Circle

``This vicious feedback loop is still in play,'' David
Seiders, chief economist of the National Association of
Homebuilders, said in an interview on Oct. 17. That, he said, is
``putting a nail'' in the coffin of the new-home market. New-home
sales have declined 67 percent from their peaks in July 2005.
Work began last month on the fewest single-family homes in 26
years, the Commerce Department reported on Oct. 17. The number of
building permits issued also fell, a sign that declines in
construction will continue to hurt the economy.
Confidence among U.S. homebuilders slid in October to the
lowest level since record-keeping began in 1985, figures from the
National Association of Home Builders/Wells Fargo showed earlier
this month.
At least a dozen homebuilders have sought bankruptcy
protection since June 2007, including billionaire Carl Icahn's
WCI Communities Inc.
Pulte Homes Inc., the third-largest U.S. builder, last week
reported a net loss of $280.4 million for the third quarter, more
than double what analysts had projected.
``The homebuilding operating environment significantly
worsened during the third quarter of 2008,'' Richard Dugas, the
chief executive officer of Bloomfield Hills, Michigan-based Pulte
said in a statement. ``The industry continues to be plagued by
tighter mortgage availability, a growing number of foreclosures,
and a historically high supply of unsold homes.''
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