Sales of new homes drop 0.8%

[gasperc]

This drop is in line with the reported drop in new home construction. To me, it explains the jump in existing sales, people switching from new to something they can afford.

http://news.yahoo.com/fc?tmpl=fc&cid=34&in=Business&cat=Real_Estate_and_Housing

[cspiguy]

1. it dropped to the second highest rate on record - so the pukes will still

crow...

[nothingshocksmeanymore]

2. Housing starts always drop under repukes

[NorthernSun]

3. CNBC Power Poll

Are you better off than 4 years ago. Yes 48%, No 52%.
Polls still open at <http://moneycentral.msn.com/home.asp>

[Warpy]

4. However, sales of existing homes increased slightly

so it seems shiny new heaps of masonry are now more out of reach to the average buyer than houses that have had a chance to get a little shabby around the edges.

I really feel sorry for some of these younger folks on the housing merry go round, moving every 3 years or so to a bigger heap of bricks and mortar, stretched to the limit to pay the mortgage and living on cheap resin porch furniture in the living room because they can't afford to furnish the places. I know a lot of people like this, and they all think they're making some sort of investment.

The housing bubble will burst, I think that's fairly certain. A lot of people, mostly younger families, are going to be very badly hurt.

[F.Gordon]

5. Read the "fine print"

Regionally, the South was the only area of the country to show strength in June with sales climbing 9.6 percent from the May level to an annual rate of 696,000 units, a new record for that part of the country. Sales fell in all other regions.

Plus, the median price continues to climb....meaning less and less people can even afford a new home.

[nolabels]

6. I think they are skewing the numbers but still...........

Contractors in Iraq have jobs, do you?

THE EMPLOYMENT SITUATION: JUNE 2004


Nonfarm payroll employment continued to rise in June, and the unemploy-
ment rate remained at 5.6 percent, the Bureau of Labor Statistics of the U.S.
Department of Labor reported today. Payroll employment increased by 112,000
in June, following larger gains in the prior 3 months.

Unemployment (Household Survey Data)

The number of unemployed persons, 8.2 million, was essentially unchanged
in June, and the unemployment rate held steady at 5.6 percent. The unemploy-
ment rate has been 5.6 percent in all but one month this year. The unemploy-
ment rates for the major worker groups--adult men (5.0 percent), adult women
(5.0 percent), teenagers (16.8 percent), whites (5.0 percent), blacks (10.1
percent), and Hispanics or Latinos (6.7 percent)--showed little or no change
over the month. In June, the unemployment rate for Asians was 5.0 percent,
not seasonally adjusted. (See tables A-1, A-2, and A-3.)

Total Employment and the Labor Force (Household Survey Data)

Total employment was 139.0 million in June, and the employment-population
ratio--the proportion of the population age 16 and over with jobs--was about
unchanged at 62.3 percent. The civilian labor force participation rate also
was little changed at 66.0 percent. (See table A-1.)
(snip)
http://jobsearch.about.com/gi/dynamic/offsite.htm?site=http://stats.bls.gov/news.release/empsit.nr0.htm