From: hamachi@adobe.com (Gordon Hamachi)
Newsgroups: misc.invest.real-estate
Subject: Real Estate News Summary, Part 127
Date: 9 Nov 92 18:22:47 GMT
Article-I.D.: adobe.1992Nov9.182247.28171
Distribution: usa
Organization: Adobe Systems Incorporated

Real Estate News Summary, Part 127, September-October, 1992

998. Existing single-family home sales fell 3.2% in August, damping industry
     optimism from recent news that housing starts had risen 10%.  The median
     national sales price was up 1.7% from July and 2.4% from a year earlier.
     Sales were up 4.7% from the year-earlier rate. [Wall Street Journal]

999. Although home sales are up nationally from a disasterous 1991, residential
     real estate in California and much of the Northeast remains a picture of
     despair.  Some houses have dipped as much as 1/3 in price from the boom
     days of the 1980s.  But some markets are doing quite well: Boise,
     Charlotte, Columbus, Denver, and Salt Lake City.  [Business Week]

1000.Based on a predicted economic rebound, the California Association of
     Realtors said the state's resale housing market will begin to recover in
     1993 after 4 years of decline.  The Realtors forecasted sales of 421,000,
     up 2% from this year but down 25% from the 1988 cyclical peak.  Assuming
     improved employment and mortgage rates below 9%, the association predicted
     another median price decline, from $196,600 in 1992 to $194,600 in 1993.
     The group erroneously forecast a state housing recovery in 1992, but says
     the forecast for next year would prove correct. [San Jose Mercury News]

1001.The California Association of Realtors said the state's housing market
     would recover in 1993.  Sales will increase 1.9% after 4 straight years of
     decline.  The statewide median price will fall to $194,600 next year, a 3%
     decline from 1991.  The group had previously predicted a recovery this
     year.  Last year's forecast of 4% growth this year has been revised to a
     2.6% decline.  The Realtors' own figures have shown recently that prices
     are falling again.  If buyers believe that trend will continue, it could
     negate effects of low rates and an improving economy.  [Associated Press]

1002.The economy may be losing ground. The index of leading economic indicators
     fell 0.2% in August, and the Consumer Confidence Index for September fell
     to 56.4, the lowest pre-election level in 20 years.  Consumers intend to
     buy sharply fewer cars, houses and major appliances in the next 6 months.
     [Investor's Business Daily]

1003.The Peninsula Regional Data Service says sales dropped in Santa Clara and
     San Mateo counties because buyers are on vacation.  This is nonsense.  For
     example, last August 54 homes were sold in Sunnyvale, while only 38 were
     sold this August; the median price for a single-family home fell from
     $335,500 to $292,000.  There were only 12 sales in Mountain View compared
     with 21 in '91; the median price was $289,000 compared with $365,000 last
     year.  There were only 19 sales in Los Altos compared with 40 last August.
     [San Jose Mercury News]

1004.New home sales fell a sharp 6.1% from July to August despite the cheapest
     mortgage rates in nearly 2 decades.  Even so, sales were 9.2% higher than
     August 1991, when the market was mired deep in recession.  New home sales
     in the Bay Area fell 8.7% in August from a year ago.  Sales in Southern
     California fell 17.8%.  [San Francisco Chronicle]

1005.Home affordability improved only modestly in 1989-91 despite nearly a 13%
     drop in the mortgage payment on a first home.  The price of a
     representative first-time buyer home fell from $72,628 in 1989 to $67,672
     in 1991.  But the income of a representative first-time buyer fell to
     $24,946 last year from $26,600 in 1989, a 6.2% drop.  Renters were
     similarly affected:  although the typical rent fell from $411 in 1987 to
     $406 in 1991 the median renter's household income fell 6.3% from $17,300
     in 1989 to $16,206 in 1991.  [Associated Press]
Newsgroups: misc.invest.real-estate