"A report from the California Building Industry Association shows new home sales in Northern California fell 40 percent during the past three months, compared to the same period last year. It's the sharpest such drop in the last 15 years."
"Deangelis said a year ago people would come in panic buying mode. "They would come in and be anxious to buy anything we had available," she said. "Now they're in panic selling mode because it's taking them longer to sell their existing house.""
"To counter the decline, many developers are offering incentives to buyers. Some are putting in thousands of dollars in upgrades at no extra charge, while others are discounting the base price of homes by five to 10 percent."
"The cooling of housing market appears to be accelerating, although the market has been trending downward for much of the year. In the first ten months of 2005 new home sales fell by 14 percent over the same period in 2004."
You can read all about it
here.
3 comments:
The end is nigh.
Turn out the lights.
The fat lady is singing.
The house party is over (oops, you already used that one, oh well...).
It will be interesting to see the effects of "gravity" on the way down, as fear replaces greed as the predominant psychology.
Who's gonna sight tight and ride it out?
Who's going to be uncomfortable?
Who's going to want to sell their house?
Who might buy it?
When, I might add, will be the first noticeable "dead cat" bounce?
So many questions.
Time will provide the answers.
This news is another turning point, from my view.
Much like the first time I heard there was lone offer for a decent house (in Mountain View on Memorial Day).
The first time I noticed an SF condo open house on a Thursday night and a "For Sale" sign for the same place that lasted weeks and weeks (June).
The trip to San Diego where I saw all those empty condo towers by the ballpark, with many more on the way (July).
The trip to Boston where the bubblesitter friends (sold in late '04 to ride it out) said suburban home sales were a dead ship in the water (August).
The bike ride in San Mateo County where the "For Sale" signs on some corners were proliferating like weeds (Sept).
The signs near work in the East Bay saying "Reduced" (October).
And now: "New Home Sales in Northern CA Fall 40%"
Well, at least we can take comfort in knowing that there is no housing bubble in Estonia. Phew! That's a relief.
http://tinyurl.com/7vlvv
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