I. New Home Sales rose 3.3% in April.
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Had we gone into a coma in 2003 and just woken up today, we might look at these headlines and think things were pretty good. But a look at the chart below paints a much better picture of the current state of the housing market. If you get real close to your computer, you can see the blip of a rise in the historical chart of New Home Sales since 1963. While New Home Sales did rise 3.3% in April, it was a month over month comparison. The real story is that sales declined 42% year over year.
New Housing Price Index Series Takes Bottom-Up Approach
Case-Shiller v OFHEO: More Analysis
[HOUSING DERIVATIVES]
10 Notes on Residential Housing
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Housing Wire: FHA Chief: Hits From Down-Payment Assistance Threaten Agency’s Future
It doesn’t get much more stark than the barb lobbied by Federal Housing Administration commissioner Brian Montgomery on Monday afternoon — stop allowing down-payment assistance, or send the FHA into insolvency.
Case for Abolishing the FHA and GSEs
[Mish's Global Economic Trend Analysis]
Should We Be Concerned About GSEs Again?
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Calculated Risk: Why Pending Home Sales are Negative for the Housing Market
The Washington Post Misunderstands the Housing/Credit Crisis
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My problem with this meme is one of context: It ignores the reality of lending practices that had nothing to do with either the CRA or HUD at all. For example, the following loan types are independent of HUD, and were the primary cause of the current foreclosure wave and the root of the current credit crisis.
Pending Home Sales Data + Cancellations + Foreclosures = Turnaround? [Housing Tracker]
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