US pending home sales fall in August
NEW YORK: Pending sales of existing US homes fell in August to their lowest level in four months as Hurricane Irene held back sales in the Northeast, data from a real estate trade group showed on Thursday.
"Sales have been down a little the previous two months. They basically look flat at a low level.
"The housing market is basically stuck at a low level. I don't see any evidence that sales will fall much further, but there is no rebound yet either.
"The report suggests partly the drop in home sales last month was related to Hurricane Irene.
"What the Fed plans to be doing is just rolling over the mortgage investment.
No doubt housing will be weaker without Fed's extreme accommodation. The key for housing market is the labour market and the broader economic recovery, not the other way around."
"Sales were a little weaker, but they're bouncing along the bottom. It is generally recognized that housing is weak. There's 2 million to 2.5 million of excess inventory out there that will take four or five years to work down. We see a further decline in housing prices." TOM PORCELLI, SENIOR US ECONOMIST, RBC CAPITAL MARKETS, NEW YORK:
"Potential homebuyers are really not being very responsive to low rates. That's why applications for new purchases remain stunningly low. It's easy to come to the conclusion that housing is going to remain stressed for some time." MARKET REACTION: STOCKS: US stock indexes hold gains BONDS: US bond prices hold losses FOREX: The dollar holds losses versus euro.
Copyright Reuters, 2011
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