The Daily Briefing

WORST HOUSING SLUMP EVER

Theo DouglasTue. January 29
 

Maybe that’s overstating it, but this is still a really, really, really bad time to be building houses–unless you plan to live in them all. Which is not really how being a developer works.

According to an Associated Press story in today’s Press-Telegram, sales of new homes plunged 26.4 percent last year–2007–by the largest amount on record.

As in the largest amount ever.

Previously, the biggest such drop was 23.1 percent in 1980, the year a Republican was elected President. This year, we already have a Republican President–but thank you for asking.

Also? In December, home sales (new and pre-owned) fell by 4.7 percent, while the median home price fell 10.4 percent compared to December 2006. They’re calling it the biggest 12-month decline in 37 years.

Also also? Some guy–okay, he’s Mark Zandi, chief economist at Moody’s Economy.com–says our housing slump already is “on par with the deep housing downturn of the 1980s,” as the AP writer Martin Crutsinger put it, “and could end up being the worst in the post-World War II period.” World War II ended nearly 63 years ago.

Might be a good time buy a house, though, if any of us had any money.

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  • Theo Douglas
    You kids play nice.
    Our neighbors on my old street were named O'Homes; I wonder if Kathy knows them.
  • rebecca
    Dave, you fucking pig! Leave the nice Utah lady alone!
  • Dave Wielenga
    KathyO, you can plant your flag in my front lawn any time. Do you mind if I ask: are those estates...uhhh... real?
  • It is a good time to buy. Although the Utah market has not taken the steep spikes that most markets have in the last few years it has come down to a realistic level. See what Utah pricing is doing at KathyOHomes.com
  • Roy
    No it really is a good time to buy. Interest rates are so low again, it almost makes real estate affordable, at least the below market value Foreclosed Houses.....
  • LBRez
    Some items of interest in the housing industry: KB Homes posted a pretty significant loss in 2007 ($900+million) and paid their CEO a $6million bonus. New home sales usually drop first and fastest since they are on the outer rings of urban/suburban areas and the builders can drop the prices on new stages to move the inventory and payoff the dirt. Most builders have been building on land purchased long, long ago and the last several years their profits have been huge given the relative cheap dirt they locked in. Median prices have fallen because the homes that are selling are 1st time buyer type properties, condos, etc. and the upper ends of the markets are not moving or even being listed. Most of the foreclosure defaults are falling around the median area prices which leads to that line moving down. Even with the troubles in the sector the last half of 2007 more Americans experience homeownership now than ever before. Finally, the subprime market consists of less than 10% of the new loans funded in the past 4-5 years for the country.
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