[Shores9]

Existing home sales of 6.22 million unit sales were 0.8% lower from the prior month. Sales essentially have barely budged one way or the other in the past five months - implying that the worst in the housing market is likely to have ended.

The inventory of homes on the market fell by 302,000
the current 3.51 million homes listed for sale represents 6.8 months supply - the lowest in six months and very close to the point of being considered as a balanced market.

median price of $222,000 in December was exactly the same as a year ago indicating the first stop in price declines for the summer

2006 is in the books – it is History and although the number of units sold slowed by 8.4% from 2005 the annual median price increased to 222,000 a 1.1% increase . There has yet to be a year over year decline in prices for as far back as the numbers have been tracked.

Far from a bursting bubble!!

Released today http://www.realtor.org/research.nsf/pages/EcoIndicator?OpenDocument (broken link)

[hiknapster]

Really? Hmmm...

This from MSNBC:


By John W. Schoen
Senior Producer
MSNBC
Updated: 6:34 p.m. ET Jan 25, 2007


The final housing numbers for 2006 are in, and they confirm what anyone who bought or sold a home last year has suspected: It was the worst housing slump in nearly two decades.

The freshest numbers also provided tea leaves for the more pressing question: has the housing market bottomed out yet — or will prices slide further before the market recovers?

After a historic five-year boom propelled by a strong economy and low interest rate, the real estate market went bust in 2006, according to the final tally released Thursday by the National Association of Realtors. Sales of existing single-family homes fell 8.4 percent to about 6.5 million, the biggest annual decline since a 14.8 percent drop in 1989.

Like everything in real estate, a lot depended on location, location, location. The West — which had seen outsized gains during the boom — was hit hardest by the slump, with sales off nearly 16 percent last year. Sales in the South were down 7 percent, while the Midwest and Northeast saw sales fall nearly 6 percent for the year.

Double-digit price gains that sparked a frenzy of condo flipping and speculative building also came to an abrupt halt last year. The median price of an existing home rose just 1.1 percent last year — less than inflation — compared with 12.4 percent in 2005.

[firemed]

This was a 19% drop that would mean if you put down 20% last year your treading water.
The News Press. “Lee County’s housing market took a tumble in 2006, ending the year with December prices of existing homes down 19 percent and sales down by almost half from a year earlier.”

“‘We had a lot of greed in 2006,’ said Larry Johnson, CEO of Old Florida Bank. ‘I had a lot of customers who held out for more and missed the deal’ when prices started to fall.”

“Wayne Watson bought the house next to his in Lehigh Acres for $300,000, intending to pay for it with proceeds from selling a house he owned in Gateway. But despite cutting the price numerous times he has been unable to sell the Gateway house.”

“Four days ago he dropped the price $20,000 to $279,000, Watson said. ‘I have to move this house,’ he said. ‘I told my Realtor, ‘Get it sold.’ This housing market sucks.’”

[sunrico90]

I found a report from the Orlando Regional Realtor Assoc that the area still saw its 2nd-best year, with more transactions in 2006 than in '04.

Is this info true?

January 11, 2007

Orlando's hot housing market lost much of its spark in the second half of 2006, though the year still wound up as the second-best on record for local existing-home sales.

The Orlando Regional Realtor Association reported Wednesday that 27,378 homes were sold last year through its members in the core Orlando market, down from the record 31,230 sold in 2005 but ahead of the 26,088 transactions in 2004.

http://www.orlrealtor.com/Main/Main.asp?CategoryID=3&SubCategoryID=348& (broken link)

[Jammie]

It just seems there are too many different stories out about the housing market. The latest one I heard is the same one that Hiknapster has posted. It was on national news last night.

I would guess that a realtor would know if housing is moving as well as they have in the past, but a lot of people who are watching the market have posted that houses in their areas have been for sale for a long time and have dropped the prices a few times. The areas that I scan through every month always seem to have more on the market and still have the ones that were there a few months ago. Not sure why anyone would put their house on the market right now unless they HAD to move or couldn't wait to get out of Fla.

[hiknapster]

Originally Posted by Jammie

It just seems there are too many different stories out about the housing market. The latest one I heard is the same one that Hiknapster has posted. It was on national news last night.

I would guess that a realtor would know if housing is moving as well as they have in the past, but a lot of people who are watching the market have posted that houses in their areas have been for sale for a long time and have dropped the prices a few times. The areas that I scan through every month always seem to have more on the market and still have the ones that were there a few months ago.

Yep. A realtor knows what's going on, but a realtor is not going to admit the market took a dump so they try to put their positive spin on it, like Shores9, who IS a realtor.

[firemed]

Originally Posted by Jammie

It just seems there are too many different stories out about the housing market. The latest one I heard is the same one that Hiknapster has posted. It was on national news last night.

I would guess that a realtor would know if housing is moving as well as they have in the past, but a lot of people who are watching the market have posted that houses in their areas have been for sale for a long time and have dropped the prices a few times. The areas that I scan through every month always seem to have more on the market and still have the ones that were there a few months ago. Not sure why anyone would put their house on the market right now unless they HAD to move or couldn't wait to get out of Fla.

This is were my numbers came from.
http://www.news-press.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070126/RE/701260396/1075 (broken link)
http://www.tbo.com/news/money/MGBRJF8YDXE.html (broken link)
http://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/loc...home-headlines
http://www.palmbeachpost.com/business/content/business/epaper/2007/01/26/s1a_PB_HOME_SALES_0126.html (broken link)
http://www.sptimes.com/2007/01/26/Bu..._sales_f.shtml
http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/business/16548641.htm (broken link)
http://www.zwire.com/site/news.cfm?n...d=455823&rfi=6
If its wrong sue the paper. I don't care about what the prices are in other areas outside of Florida. But this is what is in print each day in my area.

[BlueWillowPlate]

In Florida, 2006 had 180,037 sales, down 248,575 from 2005. The median price was up 6 percent from $235,200 to $248,300.
I read the same thing in my paper this morning. Sales had been down, but the median price had gone up.

[Shores9]

Originally Posted by hiknapster

Yep. A realtor knows what's going on, but a realtor is not going to admit the market took a dump so they try to put their positive spin on it, like Shores9, who IS a realtor.

Yep Shores9 is a realtor … and shores9 has repeatedly been critical of any entity that tries to leverage an advantage for personal benefit such as the media or the NAR or anyone .

The market took a dump in 2005 – Duh. Like I said on another thread there are plenty of people with a firm grasp of the obvious. But if fell from 50,000 ft to 30,000 ft (excuse the flying analogy as I’m sure you know I’m also a pilot) we are still flying. Back in 2003 it was at 25,000 ft

Did it crash ---NO
Did the ticket get any cheaper to buy (year over year) NO

Numbers are numbers they don’t spin in any direction – they are what they are. However it is understandable that they could make many heads spin

And as for the repeated reference to me being a Realtor I would like to thank you. I don’t think it appropriate for me to plug my business on a forum like this. It should have nothing to do with anything but I’m please that you bring it up. I'm quite proud of the level of professionalism I bring to my clients and the industry.

Moderator cut: .


Again as a Realtor I’m pleased to be a part of supporting a forum where people can express their opinions regardless of what experience or background they have.

Hiknapster Thank you for enlightening us about Realtors

[hiknapster]

Are you actually saying that because you are a realtor you are more entitled to your opinion?