Housing Woes Continue on Sales Data

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Shares in local homebuilders continued to fall Tuesday after the National Association of Realtors reported that sales of existing homes fell for a sixth straight month in August, pushing activity to the lowest point in five years.


Sales of existing single-family homes dropped by 4.3 percent in August, when compared to July, as the seasonally adjusted annual rate dropped to 5.5 million units, the slowest pace since August of 2002.


The median price of an existing home edged up in August slightly to $224,500; an increase of just 0.2 percent when compared to the same period a year earlier. It marked the first year-over-year price increase for more than a year.


The West Coast saw the biggest declines, dropping 9.8 percent, followed by declines of 5.2 percent in the Midwest, 2.7 percent in the South and 2 percent in the Northeast.


The poor sales pushed the inventory of unsold homes to a record 4.6 million in August meaning that there is a 10-month supply of unsold homes currently on the market, which is a record.


Shares in KB Home, the Los Angeles-based homebuilder, dropped another 2.6 percent in late trading on Tuesday after losing 5.6 percent Monday. It sunk a 52-week low of $25.11 in afternoon trading Tuesday. KB is expected to report a quarterly loss on Thursday.


Shares in Calabasas-based Ryland Group Inc. also continued to tumble dropping another 3.3 percent a day after losing 5.6 percent. Shares in Ryland also hit a 52-week low of $21.93 Tuesday. Ryland is scheduled to report its third-quarter earnings Oct. 24.

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