Ya gotta love the twisted headline from this CNNMoney.com report by Chris Isidore (bolds are mine):
New homes sales: Back from the dead?
New home sales rise more than expected and prices post gains despite continued rise in completed new homes on the market.
December 27 2006: 11:11 AM ESTNEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) -- New home sales and prices both showed surprising strength in November, according to a government report Wednesday.
New homes sold at an annual pace of 1.05 million, up from the revised annual rate of 1.01 million in October. Economists surveyed by Briefing.com had forecast that home sales would rebound to a 1.02 million pace.
..... The median average home price came in at $251,700 in November, up from the $248,500 level in October. The median price, is the point at which half the homes sell for more and half sell for less, had shown declines earlier in the fall due to a glut of homes available for sale on the market.
..... The median price is now back to the second-highest level on record, trailing only the $257,000 level reached in April of this year.
And while the pace of home sales is down 15.3 percent from the white-hot sales rate of a year ago, it's up nearly 7 percent from the trough hit in July of this year, when revised figures put the sales annual sales pace at just under a million.
Okay, it's only one month, and I'm not going to claim that a housing recovery is in full swing by any stretch.
But when were new home sales "dead"? If I'd have known, I would have sent flowers to the National Association of Homebuilders. I hope they'll excuse the oversight.
Cross-posted at BizzyBlog.com.
