The Real Estate Bloggers

Existing Home Sales Plummet in July, Down 27 Percent

Posted: 24 Aug 2010 07:17 AM PDT

Suburbia While analysts were expecting an annualized existing home sales level between 5.37 million and 4.6 million homes, the numbers came in much lower than that. The seasonally adjusted number was 3.83 million, down 27.2 percent.

The combination of the tax credit expiration that pulled forward summer sales, a tough credit market, and unemployment hovering around 10 percent was enough to stop the nations home buyers in their tracks.

NAR economist Lawrence Yun expects home sales to rebound towards the end of the year and get back to the 5.0 million level, but for agents and brokers who expect the summers to be their busy time of the year, this report will be a tough pill to swallow.

Existing-home sales, which are completed transactions that include single-family, townhomes, condominiums and co-ops, dropped 27.2 percent to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 3.83 million units in July from a downwardly revised 5.26 million in June, and are 25.5 percent below the 5.14 million-unit level in July 2009.

Sales are at the lowest level since the total existing-home sales series launched in 1999, and single family sales – accounting for the bulk of transactions – are at the lowest level since May of 1995. via NAR

Thanks for reading this post. If you would like to see more articles like this, please come visit The Real Estate Bloggers. where it was originally published.

Existing Home Sales Plummet in July, Down 27 Percent

Third Quarter Existing Homes Sales Increase 11.4 Percent, Prices Drop 11.2 Percent With stimulus provided by the new homeowners tax credit, we...
New Home Sales Drop 11.2 Percent In January I guess the stimulus extension is not doing it’s job…...
Commercial Real-Estate Sales Plummet in July, 2009 If you are looking for a deal on a commercial property...

Florida Realtors Negotiates 16 Million Dollar Settlement With BP For Gulf Agents

Posted: 24 Aug 2010 06:09 AM PDT

Florida_Realtor Florida Realtors, formerly the Florida Association of Realtors, has negotiated a settlement for Realtors who have been affected by the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico. Terms of how the Realtor group will handle the dispersement of funds has not been released yet, but I am sure agents will be looking for their share.

The BP oil spill in the Gulf has impacted many businesses, with real estate being just a small part of them. The tax credit expiration coinciding with the Gulf spill has mitigated the Realtor’s argument of lost funds as home sales showed an increase during this period of time. However, as we all know, the impact is being felt and psychologically it will be felt by home buyers long into the future.

Now the next stage to watch is how the Realtor board will determine the payout for agents. My guess, this will be the real fight.

Florida Realtors — the former Florida Association of Realtors — negotiated $16 million from the fund to compensate agents for lost sales and broken contracts stemming from the Gulf oil spill.

John Sebree, lobbyist for the Realtors, said that the money will be distributed to agents through a claims adjusting firm which also is handling the work for four other states.

“It may not go terribly far,” Sebree said. “But it’s a step in the right direction.

Thanks for reading this post. If you would like to see more articles like this, please come visit The Real Estate Bloggers. where it was originally published.

Florida Realtors Negotiates 16 Million Dollar Settlement With BP For Gulf Agents