Even Biden’s press secretary Karine Jean Pierre admitted that all the slogans and hype about Bidenomics is a losing message. The economy is terrible for the middle class and low-wage workers. But excellent for the 1% donor and political elite class. But housing is very important to the middle class … and housing is simply unaffordable.
With housing affordability at its lowest since at least the early 1980s, (and homebuilder sentiment slumping as mortgage rates rose), it’s no surprise that analysts expected existing home sales in October to tumble 1.5% MoM.
Sales actually fell 4.1% MoM (far worse than expected and down for the 20th time in the last 23 months) with September’s 2.0% MoM decline revised even lower to -2.2% MoM. That decline left existing home sales down 14.6% YoY.
Source: Bloomberg
The total existing home sales SAAR plunged to 3.79mm – the lowest since the tax credit expired in Aug 2010…
Source: Bloomberg
Sales fell in three of four regions, while they were unchanged in the Midwest. They hit a record low in the West and matched an all-time low in the Northeast
Finally, the percentage of homes that are vacant fell to the lowest level on record in August, and ticked up only slightly in September…
Ever the optimistic,Lawrence Yun, NAR’s chief economist, suggested that:
“Fortunately, mortgage rates have fallen for the third straight week, stirring up buying interest,” adding “though limited now, expect housing inventory to improve after this winter and heading into the spring.”
Good luck with that idea Larry!
Yun added that nearly a third of homes sold above their list price, indicating that multiple offers are still occurring with the median selling price climbed 3.4% from a year earlier to $391,800, the highest for any October in data back to 1999.
Even though the number of homes for sale ticked up from a month earlier to 1.15 million, it’s still the lowest for any October in the series.
Finally, first-time buyers made up a historically low 28% of purchases in October.
After all, the US economy and housing markets are addicted to goverment. (Addicted To Gov!)
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