Today, the National Association of Realtors (NAR) released their Existing Home Sales Report for October indicating a resumption of the decline in sales and prices as the historic economic shocks of September and October work to dramatically reduce consumer confidence and sideline buyers.Furthermore, we are continuing to see SOLID declines to the median sales price for both single family homes and condos across virtually every region.
The NAR leadership, which now includes their new president Charles McMillan, is becoming more pessimistic about the future while simultaneously turning to Washington for handouts as Lawrence Yun notes:
“Many potential home buyers appear to have withdrawn from the market due to the stock market collapse and deteriorating economic conditions … We have favorable affordability conditions, but we need more than that to give buyers with jobs the confidence they need. This is why a housing stimulus is so critical now to encourage more buyers to draw down the inventory and stabilize home prices. Without home price stabilization, there will not be an economic recovery.”
The following (click for larger versions) are charts showing sales for single family homes, plotted monthly, for 2006, 2007 and 2008 as well as national existing home inventory and month supply.
