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Last month’s data came out today and yesterday. Existing home sales dropped three percent in March. New home sales dropped 0.6% in March. There are “two competing forces” at hand with the existing home sales numbers, according to analysis from IHS Global Insight. In states like California, Arizona, and Nevada, distressed sales (foreclosures and short sales) are pushing up the numbers. In other places—-most other places—-demand is still falling for homes. “Existing home sales fell 5.3% in the fourth quarter of 2008, and 3.2% in the first quarter of 2009,” says the IHS report. When it comes to new home sales, the “decline is flattening” and “the bottom [may be] at hand” with sales beginning to turn in the second half of this year, the analysis projects.
Image by respres, Flickr Creative Commons