Sales Pace

Standing among the rolling hills of the Kentucky bluegrass are many signs of the times. They say "For Sale," and they tell the story of the slumping thoroughbred horse industry. Raising animals for the sport of kings often takes a royal fortune. Just five years ago, sons of Arab sheiks and Texas oil barons were spending those princely sums, gobbling up land in a seller's market that seemed infinite. But the giddy days of the Lexington land boom are over.

Kelley Blue Book says that new car sales have been so strong in March that they are on pace to reach the highest monthly sales total in the U.S. in more than five years. Officials of the auto valuation company said it was a positive sign of the nation's economic recovery on many fronts. The expected sales total of 1,450,000 is set to be the highest monthly figure since August 2007, which Kelley Blue Book officials described as a typically strong pre-recession month. Alec Gutierrez, senior market analyst for the company, said in an interview that there were several reasons for the strong showing.

Rising mortgage rates caught up with home buyers in March, reducing sales of new homes by 7.6% to the slowest pace in 10 months, the Commerce Department reported Monday. But analysts noted that March's pace was still greater than last year's monthly average and that there was little chance sales could keep up with the pace set in the first two months of the year. "Things are not falling apart on us," said economist David F. Seiders of the National Assn. of Home Builders.

Southern California home sales rose at their fastest pace in at least 16 years in April as buyers faced rising interest rates and still red-hot prices, which set records in six counties. Sales of homes and condominiums rose 7.3% to 32,916 last month as the median price -- the point at which half the homes sold for more and half for less -- increased more than 20% from a year earlier in each of the region's six major counties, DataQuick Information Systems Inc. reported Wednesday.

Stoked by zero-interest financing programs and the continued strong appeal of trucks, U.S. auto sales set a record for November and kept the year on track to becoming the second-best in history at about 17.1 million units. Although the Chrysler Group domestic arm of DaimlerChrysler saw November sales slip, General Motors Corp. and Ford Motor Co. both had record months, and many Asian importers are looking not only at monthly peaks but at record years as well.

Sales of domestically built cars showed signs of strengthening in the last 10 days of November, auto makers reported Wednesday, raising hopes that a long-awaited recovery might be in reach. But sales of domestic and imported cars and trucks for the whole month maintained the snail's pace at which they've crawled for the past year, and analysts cautioned that one mildly encouraging 10-day period does not a recovery make.

BMW used the New York International Auto Show to showcase two new additions to its venerable 3 Series lineup, a new diesel-powered 328d and a Gran Turismo hatchback. The 328d is making its U.S. premiere at the show and will go on sale in late summer. PHOTOS: Highlights of the 2013 N.Y. Auto Show Sold in Europe as the 320d, the diesel 3 has a turbocharged four-cylinder that makes 180 horsepower and 280 pound-feet of torque. BMW said it will do zero to 60 mph in about 7.2 seconds and “well exceed” 40 mpg in highway driving.

Sales of existing homes fell 3.6% in January, the third consecutive monthly decline, the National Assn. of Realtors said today. Sales of existing single-family homes fell to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 3.21 million units last month, the slowest sales pace since June, 1985.

Retailing: The retail sales pace will slow during the first half of 1999 as consumers reduce high levels of personal debt. Sales growth in Southern California will be slightly stronger, and sellers of home furnishings will fare best as rising real estate prices and low interest rates prompt refinancing and a home improvement boom. Regulators will allow Kroger and Fred Meyer to merge, and other supermarket companies will seek merger partners to create chains with similar national reach.

Sales at U.S. wholesalers in March increased twice as much as inventories, led by a rebound in imported automobiles, a government report showed. Wholesale sales rose 1%, double February's increase, the Commerce Department said. Stocks of goods at distributors increased 0.5% after a 0.3% rise. Wholesalers have a record-low 1.21 months' supply of goods in stock at the current sales pace.