Fun with Numbers, Housing Crunch Style

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By Andrew Jakabovics

RISMEDIA, Jan. 3, 2008-Attention to November’s 0.4 percent increase in existing homes sales compared to October cannot whitewash the 20 percent drop in sales from last November.

The grim reality is that there are more homes for sale on the market than last year at this time, fewer of those homes are selling, and when they do, they are selling for less money. No amount of spin from the National Association of Realtors or from the media looking for an upbeat story as we end the year is going to convince Americans that the housing market has now stabilized and is poised for a rebound.

There are 4.27 million homes for sale in the United States, a 12.2 percent rise in inventory from last November. Coupled with slow sales velocity-only 388,000 homes sold this November compared to 472,000 last year-we now have a 41 percent increase in months of supply compared to last year. At the same time, the median sales price has fallen 3.3 percent.

The West was the only region of the country to post sales increases. When compared to last November, however, the West showed the greatest decline with a drop off of 25 percent. Moreover, the increase in sales may have come from sellers dropping their prices; the West’s 6.8 percent price decline was the steepest of any region in the country.

Andrew Jakabovics is the Associate Director for the Economic Mobility Program at the Center for American Progress. He works on housing, household debt, and higher education, as well as other issues related to sustaining and growing the middle class.

For more information, visit www.americanprogress.org.

RISMedia welcomes your questions and comments. Send your e-mail to: realestatemagazinefeedback@rismedia.com.

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