Sales Pace

Sales of previously owned U.S. homes last month rose 5.6% over the previous month but remained considerably weaker than the brisk pace set last year, when tax credits for buyers fueled the market. The National Assn. of Realtors said homes sold at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 4.7 million houses and condominiums. Although up from October, the number was a 27.9% drop from November 2009. The industry group said 33% of the homes sold in November were distressed sales. These include foreclosures and short sales, in which banks agree to sell homes for less than the value of the mortgages on them.

Demand for a range of long-lasting U.S. manufactured goods unexpectedly fell last month and a gauge of business spending plans also dropped, underscoring the economic recovery's tepid pace. Another report Wednesday from the Commerce Department showed new-home sales continued to bounce along the bottom, leaving intact expectations in financial markets that the Federal Reserve would ease monetary policy further next week. "You are seeing a convergence in the different sectors of the economy around the slow-growth scenario," said Zach Pandl, an economist at Nomura Securities International in New York.

Sales of homes in Southern California slumped for a third consecutive month in September but prices ticked up, underscoring a weak but stable real estate market headed into the traditionally slow fall and winter months. Sales of newly built and previously owned houses, town homes and condominiums fell 2.4% from August and 16% from the same month last year, according to real estate research firm MDA DataQuick of San Diego. A total of 18,091 homes were sold last month in the region.

Sales of previously owned homes in the U.S. dropped 2.2% in May from the previous month as the stimulus from a popular federal tax credit appeared to wane. Many economists expected sales and prices to fall as deadlines began to expire for the federal tax credit, which required buyers to enter into a home purchase contract by April 30 and close their deals by June 30. The credits offered up to $8,000 for first-time buyers and $6,500 for some current homeowners. The credit helped fuel sales of new and previously owned homes across the U.S. this spring.

— Sales of new homes broke out of a four-month winter slump with a bang in March, soaring 26.9% over February, the government said Friday, evidence that federal tax incentives for buyers due to expire next week are giving the housing market a boost. The March figures were meager by historical standards, bouncing off an all-time low in February, and analysts said job creation was paramount for the momentum to sustain itself. "It shows that the tax credit still has some punch, and we will probably see some better sales numbers for April," said Mark Zandi, chief economist for Moody's Economy.

Southern California's housing market showed fresh signs of momentum in March with the median price and sales pace improving from the same month a year earlier as buyers hurried to take advantage of a soon-to-expire federal tax incentive, cheap prices and low interest rates. The median price paid for new and previously occupied houses and condominiums in Southern California jumped 14% in March to $285,000 from the same month a year earlier, according to San Diego real estate research firm MDA DataQuick.

If you're still having trouble selling your house, you're not alone. Sales of previously owned homes in January stumbled considerably for the second consecutive month. The National Assn. of Realtors in Washington said Friday that sales fell 7.2%. January sales were the lowest since June but 11.5% higher than in January 2009. Previously owned homes make up the bulk of the nation's buying activity. Economists said that last month's sales drop from December was another sign the market is critically weak and unlikely to recover robustly this year as the potential for more foreclosures looms.

Three auto industry research firms are projecting widely divergent new car sales for January. TrueCar Inc. of Santa Monica, which analyzes new car pricing, estimates that light-vehicle sales in January will be 728,019 units, down 29% from December but up a solid 11% from the same month last year, after adjusting for the difference in selling days. January's forecast translates into an annual sales pace of 11.3 million cars. (Most automakers believe that the industry will sell about 11.5 million vehicles in 2010.

Sales of previously owned homes soared 7.4% in the traditionally slow month of November as buyers looked to take advantage of a tax credit for first-time purchases, an industry group said this morning. Sales of single-family houses, town homes, condominiums and co-ops rose to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 6.54 million units in November, the National Assn. of Realtors in Washington said. That is 44.1% above the 4.54 million sales pace of November 2008. The 7.4% rise reported today was compared with sales in October 2009.