In the meantime, enjoy the market rally and your turkey. Blogging may be a bit sparse this week, depending on material.
Monday, November 23, 2009
Existing Homes Sales Surge
Existing home sales were up 10.1% to a 6.1 million annual pace in October, proving that if you give people sub-5% mortgages requiring only a 3.5% downpayment AND hand them checks for $8,000, they will buy houses. Inventories fell to a seven month supply and the median was down year-over-year by 7.1% to $173,100. Thanks to all the government subsidies, even if technically you didn't buy a home in October, you still sort of bought a home for someone else in October. In any event, the plan seems to have worked by artificially stimulating demand for housing. It will be interesting to see if this type of enthusiasm can continue when all of the stimulus plans expire.
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3 comments:
Is it really an accepted fact that the stimulus programs will ever end? They are the fiscal equivalent of the Vietnam War quagmire.
Good point. But eventually, after the government has bought everybody in America a new house and a new car, it has to end, don't you think?
Yeah, but that's where my comment becomes more accurate than I'd even meant it. Vietnam eventually ended, but by then everyone looked back and said "I can't believe anyone ever thought that was a good idea."
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