New-Home Sales Inch Up In July, Existing Home Sales Drop

New-home sales inch up in July
from the East Valley Tribune, reports that sales of Valley new homes in July rose 4.7 percent from June with 3,128 new home sales, according to the latest Phoenix Housing Market Letter by analyst RL Brown. Overall, there were nearly 8,600 new and existing home sales in the Valley in July. That's not even close to the heights of 2005, but its "a huge amount of sales for housing in a month", Brown said. Today's market is similar to the early 2000's before the boom, and builders and sellers weren't complaining then, Brown said. "My gut feeling is that we have more rocks in the road," but the basic elements of a successful market still exists in the Valley-- good job and population growth," he said. Building permits were down in July with 2,560 permits pulled, compared with 3,490 in June and 3,601 in July 2006. The median price for a new Valley home stood at $257,000. Brown says that the existing home market continues to be the biggest hurdle facing builders.

Existing home sales dropped in July from MSNBC.com,
reports that sales of existing U.S. homes fell in July for the fifth straight month, falling to the slowest pace in five years, while home prices fell for a record 12th straight month, according to the National Association of Realtors (NAR). The median price of a home sold in July fell to $230,200, down 0.6 percent from the price a year ago. The deep housing slump combined with the recent turmoil in the financial markets have raised worries about a possible recession, but many economist believe the Federal Reserve will ward off a full-blown downturn by reducing a key short-term interest rate should financial markets fail to stabilize. With the lending crisis, many analysts believe it could be months before housing stabilizes because of the threat that rising delinquencies could further dump homes onto an already glutted market.

What do copper traders know about housing?
from Bloomberg News, reports that copper prices have rebounded recently, in part on a bet that the U.S. housing market may not be sickly enough to ravage the economy. Copper’s used in residential wiring and piping …
“The U.S. growth outlook is giving people a reason to buy,” said Eric Wittenauer, an industrial-metals analyst at A.G. Edwards & Sons Inc. in St. Louis. Copper futures for December delivery gained 0.6 cent, or 0.2 percent, to $3.356 a pound on the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange. Earlier, the price reached $3.497, the highest since Aug. 8. The most-active contract, which has rallied 17 percent this year, has increased for seven straight sessions.
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Housing Market: The Blame Game from SA for 8/29

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