By Dina
El Boghdady and Tomoeh Murakami Tse
Washington Post Staff Writers
Tuesday, August 28, 2007; D01
Sales of existing U.S. homes fell in July for the fifth consecutive month,
prices continued to erode and the supply of single-family homes rose to a
16-year high by one key measure, according to the National
Association of Realtors.
The housing figures, released yesterday, showed that sales of previously
owned single-family homes, townhouses, condominiums and cooperatives were
down 9 percent from a year ago. Sales fell 0.2 percent from June, to a seasonally
adjusted annual rate of 5.75 million.
Stock markets reacted mildly yesterday to the news, dipping slightly even
though the home-sales report beat Wall
Street expectations.
The Realtors association attributed the sales decline to mortgage disruptions
that have kept some potential buyers on the sidelines and left others in
the lurch as several mortgage companies shut down, yanked away the loans
they approved or altered the terms of those loans.
The July figures do not reflect the deepening credit crunch that rocked
global financial markets this month, making it more difficult to borrow money.
Data released last week that showed a rise in sales of new homes was skewed
for the same reason, said experts who track the industry.
"I don’t take solace in any of the July numbers because they were put
to bed before the market froze in August," said Mark
Zandi, chief economist for Moody’s Economy.com. "We
have to wait until September or October to fully understand the scope of
the fallout."
See the full article here:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/08/27/AR2007082700475_pf.html
