Track home inventories in 18 major metropolitan areas. | WSJ

Rising Home Inventories | WSJ

Track home inventories in 18 major metropolitan areas.


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Home Prices Keep Sliding; While Hesitant Buyers Sit Tight

Home Prices Keep Sliding; While Hesitant Buyers Sit Tight

By James R. Hagerty
From The Wall Street Journal Online

The air continues to seep out of the U.S. housing market, according to the latest data, and some economists are warning that prices will keep declining through much of 2007.

The National Association of Realtors yesterday reported the biggest drop in home prices since the trade group began compiling price data in 1968. Specifically, the association said the median price for home sales completed in September was $220,000, down 2.2% from a year earlier. That matched a revised 2.2% decline in August. In addition to being the largest price drops in at least 38 years, the back-to-back declines are the first time median home prices have fallen since 1995...

Housing Decline Sparks A Construction Slowdown | WSJ

Housing Decline Sparks A Construction Slowdown

By Alex Frangos From The Wall Street Journal Online

The unexpectedly rapid decline of the nation's housing market will mean an overall drop in construction spending next year, with spillover effects in areas such as job growth and real-estate development.

In a closely watched report expected to be released today, McGraw-Hill Construction will forecast the first decline in overall construction spending since 1991. The company says the value of new construction will decline 1% in 2007 to $668 billion, compared with an expected rise of 1% for 2006 and a 12% increase in 2005. McGraw-Hill said the anticipated decline was due mostly to a 5% fall in construction of single-family homes. But the overall drop also reflects a 3% slide in construction of stores and shopping centers, a component closely tied to population growth and home-building trends.

"Single-family housing has fallen more steeply than what we had anticipated and the correction is taking place faster," says Robert Murray, vice president at McGraw-Hill Construction, a unit of McGraw-Hill Cos. The industry "no longer has single-family housing to bolster total construction."

Pending Home Sales Fall By 1.1% in September | Market Watch

Pending Home Sales Fall By 1.1% in September

By Rex Nutting
From MarketWatch

A gauge of future home buying fell 1.1% in September, a signal that sales will be roughly flat for the next few months, the National Association of Realtors said Wednesday.

The pending home sales index fell 1.1% in September after a 4.7% increase in August. The index is down 13.6% in the past year. Home sales are also down about 14% in the past year, while building permits have plunged 27%.

The pending home sales index is based on contracts to buy existing homes signed in September. Sales typically close a month or two later, when they would be recorded in the industry trade group's existing home sales index...