New-home sales plunge to lowest level in 12 years
12:48 PM Fri, Dec 28, 2007 | Permalink
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WASHINGTON -- Sales of new homes plunged last month to their lowest level in more than 12 years, a grim testament to the problems plaguing the housing sector. The Commerce Department reported today that new-home sales tumbled by 9 percent in November from October to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 647,000. That was the worst showing since April 1995, when the pace of sales was 621,000. The sales pace for November was much weaker than economists were expecting. They were predicting sales in the weakest sector of the economy to drop by around 1.8 percent, to a pace of 715,000. The median sales price of a new home dipped to $239,100 in November. That is 0.4 percent lower than a year ago. The median price is where half sell for more and half for less. By region, sales fell in all parts of the country, except for the West, where they rose. New-home sales dropped by 19.3 percent in the Northeast. They plunged by 27.6 percent in the Midwest and they fell by 6.4 percent in the South. However, sales increased by 4 percent in the West. Over the last 12 months, new-home sales nationwide have tumbled by 34.4 percent, the biggest annual slide since early 1991, and stark evidence of the painful collapse in the once high-flying housing market. That market has been suffering through a severe slump following five years of record-breaking activity from 2001 through 2005. Sales turned weak as did home prices. The boom-to-bust situation has increased dangers to the economy as a whole and has been especially hard on some homeowners. Full story from the Associated Press ... 
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Maybe people ought to remember that we are talking about Rhode Island and not CT or MA. RI is the Mississippi of the north and will continue to lose jobs and housing values for at least the next 2-3 years at far worse rates than its neighbors. Job losses will be primarily in the middle-upper levels of white collar... largely job losses in banking and insurance.
We need to get organized crime out of the state and have the Feds assist us in cleaning up our state legislature. RI is too unrespectable to continue in its present condition and is embarressing to its neighboring states and the northeast generally.
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