The NAR reported today that their members settled 361,000 house sales in March (actual, not seasonally manipulated), up 74,000 from February. The median price rose 5.27% versus February and was up 2.5% versus March 2011. This was the largest monthly percentage price gain since June 2005. The year over year gain was the first significant…
Tag Archive for Sales Contracts
Housing, Lee's Free Thinking, Must Read
Another Sign Bottom is Behind, House Sales Contracts Rise 14%
by Lee Adler • • 4 Comments
Contracts for the sale of existing homes rose 15.1% month to month in February, according to data reported today by the real estate brokers lobbying organization. Sales were 14% above the level of February 2011, continuing the rebound in housing market sales. To keep this in perspective the number remains down 37% from the peak…
Lee's Free Thinking, Must Read
The Trouble With Case Shiller, Again
by Lee Adler • • 1 Comment
The Case Shiller housing price index was released this morning and, as usual, it’s getting lots of media attention. I have no problem with that, except for one minor detail. It is a worthless and misleading indicator of current housing market conditions. Back in 2010 I wrote a public article called The Trouble With Case…
Bears Chat, Best of the Forums, Must Read
Home sales contracts falling apart 2X faster than last year
by Bears Chat at The Wall Street Examiner • • 0 Comments
In a rare moment of semi-lucid disclosure, the National Association of Realtors (“NAR”) reported that home sales contracts are falling apart TWICE as often as they did last year, according to the numbers released at its annual convention in Anah…
Charts, Economics, Email Bulletins Archive, Housing, Must Read
Did The NAR Lie About August Pending Home Sales?
by Lee Adler • • 1 Comment
Data released today by the Mortgage Bankers Ass. suggest that housing demand is again cratering. In the last week of September mortgage purchase applications were down about 12% versus the same week last year. This is similar to the difference at the end of August, when the drop was about 13%. Chart and data- Bloomberg…
Charts, Economics, Editorial, Email Bulletins Archive, Housing
Home Sales Contracts Better than Media, NAR report
by Lee Adler • • 3 Comments
The mainstream financial media is widely misreporting the NAR’s Pending Home Sales data this morning, simply parroting the NAR’s seasonally manipulated data. As it turns out, the NAR is screwing its own pooch because the actual, not manipulated data is actually much better than the seasonally smoothed numbers imply. That’s not to say sales are…
Economics, Housing
The Trouble With Case Shiller
by Lee Adler • • 0 Comments
The mainstream media wasted hours reporting on and analyzing the Case Shiller Housing Index today. Did even one pundit mention what’s wrong with the Case Shiller data? If Dow Jones used the methodology to report the Dow Industrials that Standard and Poors uses to construct the Case Shiller Index (CSI) the Dow would be reported…
Housing, Liquidity Trader, Professional Edition
Bleak Week for Weak Housing – Professional Edition
by Lee Adler • • 1 Comment
The pending home sales data (sales contracts) for June showed a tiny dead cat bounce on the heels of the collapse in May. Sales activity is now below the level of June 2009 and 2008, at the bottom of the market. Real time mortgage applications data continue to prove to be an accurate forecaster of…
