Pending home sales in the U.S. unexpectedly fell 1.8% in September, the National Association of Realtors reported Friday. It was the statistic's first decline in three months, and one that suggests that the housing sector's recovery is likely to remain uneven through at least early 2011.
This week, David Cay Johnston published a thought experiment titled How Would You Invest $1 Billion Under the Current Tax System? Its premise is that if we use tax policy to boost demand, we can find more profitable ways to invest. It's a premise DailyFinance columnist and venture capitalist Peter Cohen rejects.
It's a summer for the record books in the U.S. housing sector -- and not in a good way. New-home sales unexpectedly plunged 12.4% in July to the lowest level since the Commerce Department began keeping records for the statistic in 1963.
The U.S. housing sector took another hit this month as homebuilder sentiment unexpectedly fell to 13 in August from 14 in July. The measure has been drifting lower since the federal homebuyers tax credit expired this spring.
Home prices in 20 major U.S. cities rose a better-than-expected 0.5% in May, Case-Shiller said Tuesday. However, analysts warn that it's probably too early to celebrate, as the housing market has a long and difficult road ahead of it.
After the federal home buyers tax credit ended at the end of April, analysts expected that sales would drop 7% in June. The reality was not quite that bad, with a 5.1% decline. Should Congress renew the credit?
