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Fewer people bought new homes in December, making 2011 the worst sales year on record. The Commerce Department said Thursday new-home sales fell last month to a seasonally adjusted annual pace of 307,000. The pace is less than half the 700,000 that economists say must be sold in a healthy economy.
Home sales rose in December to the highest pace in nearly a year. The gain coincides with other signs that show the troubled housing market improved at the end of last year. Still, sales remain depressed and ended 2011 well below healthy levels.
Americans bought slightly more new homes in November, but 2011 will likely end up as the worst year for sales in history. The Commerce Department says new-home sales rose 1.6 percent last month to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 315,000. That's less than half the 700,000 new homes that economists say should be sold to sustain a healthy housing market.
The number of Americans who bought previously occupied homes rose last month. But the National Association of Realtors says it overstated more than 3 million sales during and after the Great Recession, showing the housing market was weaker than previously thought.
In a surprising twist, some of the best housing numbers in eight months surfaced Tuesday. But is it all good? We checked in with AOL Real Estate Editor in Chief Laura Goldstein for some insight about what the latest data really means.
For nearly two years, economists and real estate experts have been on the lookout for the bottom of the housing market. That time is here, says Russell Price, a senior economist with Ameriprise Financial, a financial services company.
The winter freeze cooled new home purchases to a 308,000-unit annualized rate. The figures show more troubling signs, and the four-month trend downward can't completely be blamed on the weather.
Just when it seems safe to jump into the real estate market again -- hey, it's spring, that's when we do that -- the drumbeat of negative news ramps up once again. Despite hopes for a leveling off of homes entering foreclosure, the percentage of homes in foreclosure has increased to 3% of all...
A Thomson Reuters/University of Michigan survey published last week suggests that most homeowners think the worst is over, and don't anticipate further declines in the value of their properties in 2010. Just 15% of homeowners surveyed in January expected their homes to decline in value over the...
Real estate auctions began cropping up about four years ago, generally in places overbuilt with cookie-cutter homes. Initially, banks were auctioning off foreclosed properties. Then developers joined the bandwagon, trying to move their unsold inventory. Bargains galore, right? Well, not exactly....

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