Northeast Is Toughest Place in U.S. to Sell Homes (Update2)
By Kathleen M. Howley
Jan. 8 (Bloomberg) -- The toughest place to sell a home in the U.S. in November was the Northeast as homebuyers sat on the sidelines in an area that has seen the biggest price gains.
An index measuring signed contracts for previously owned homes fell 13 percent in the region, the most in the country, the National Association of Realtors said today in a report. Prices there jumped more than sixfold over the past 26 years, leading the U.S., according to the Office of Federal Housing Enterprise Oversight, or Ofheo.
*********************************************
The pending sale index's drop in states including New York, New Jersey, Massachusetts and Connecticut was triple other U.S. regions and demonstrates home sellers are having to lower expectations as the real estate slump worsens. Nationally, the number of Americans signing contracts to buy previously owned homes fell 2.6 percent in November from October, according to the Realtors' Pending Home Sales Index.
``The northeast is getting hit hard,'' said Paul Rinkulis, an agent at Keliher Real Estate in Boston. ``It's at least as bad as it was in the late 1980s, early 1990s, and that was bad.''
The Realtors report showed pending resales fell in three of four regions. In addition to the Northeast's 13 percent drop, the pending sales index decreased 4.1 percent in the Midwest and 2.1 percent in the West. The pending sales rose 2.3 percent in the South. The figures are seasonally adjusted.
******************************
No comments:
Post a Comment