LOS ANGELES, July 16, 2008
Housing Industry Continues To Sour
Home Builders' Confidence Hits New Low; SoCal Home Prices Drop Almost 30% In June
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Feds Press For Housing Bill
Fed chief Ben Bernanke called upon Congress to pass a housing bill that would help struggling homeowners and rescue ailing mortgage lenders. Anthony Mason reports.
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The National Association of Home Builders/Wells Fargo housing market index fell in July to a record low of 16, down from 18 in June, the Washington trade group said Wednesday.
The index has been on a downward trajectory since May as the industry's fortunes have soured.
Tighter lending standards, rising mortgage defaults and fear about the housing market's future have sidelined buyers, stinging major builders like D.R. Horton Inc., Pulte Homes Inc. and Centex Corp.
"Builders are reporting that traffic of prospective buyers has fallen off substantially in recent months," David Seiders, NAHB's chief economist, said in a statement.
On a vacant lot in northern New Jersey, Dean Mon is breaking ground for a 70-unit housing complex. But he tells CBS News correspondent Anthony Mason that he is worried he will be able to find buyers.
That's why builders like Mon are begging Washington to pass the housing bill.
"We need Congress's help," Mon says.
To stimulate sales, the bill would provide a temporary tax credit of up to $8,000 for first-time buyers and allow the government to insure $300 billion in new mortgages to help 400,000 strapped homeowners, Mason reports.
Sales of new homes fell 2.5 percent in May, while home prices were down 5.7 percent from a year earlier, the Commerce Department said last month.
Meanwhile, Southern California home prices plunged 29.3 percent in June compared to a year ago, according to DataQuick Information Systems. DataQuick said the median price for new and resale homes and condominiums stood at $355,000 last month in a six-county region, down from $502,000 in June 2007.
The latest home builder report reflects a survey of almost 400 residential developers nationwide, tracking builders' perceptions of current market conditions and expectations for home sales over the next six months.
Index readings higher than 50 indicate positive sentiment about the market. The seasonally adjusted index has been below 50 since May 2006.
Respondents gave dour assessments of current sales, prospective home buyer traffic and sales expectations in the months ahead, sending the index for each to new lows.
Builders' business outlook for the South, West and Midwest worsened, but improved slightly in the Northeast.
Meanwhile, the NAHB seized on Wednesday's data to renew its calls for lawmakers to include an $8,000 tax credit for first-time home buyers in a housing stimulus package being considered in Congress.
The association contends that would help stabilize the faltering housing market.
Despite the grim housing outlook, Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke told Congress Wednesday that troubled mortgage giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac are in "no danger of failing."
Though Bernanke delivered the same somber economic report to the House as he did Tuesday to the Senate, he tried to tamp down growing panic by stressing that like all economic downturns, this too shall pass, reports CBS News correspondent Bob Fuss.
The Fed chief made his remarks to the House Financial Services Committee, his second day on Capitol Hill where he briefed lawmakers on the problems plaguing the economy.
© MMVIII, CBS Interactive Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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See all 73 CommentsWell, maybe reality will catch on in california....
The same home that costed $40,000 20 years ago now goes for about $120,000.. even after replacing legal US citizen workers with illegal immigrants.
All these home building companies saw their profit margins doubled, even tripled.
HOUSING IS TOO EXPENSIVE IN THE US!!!!!!!!
Oh, and for those of you that say that "hey democrats controlled congress for the last two years!" ... well, lets look at those numbers shall we?
Senate:
49 republicans
49 democratics
2 independents
tiebreaking vote: republican vice president.
House:
200 Republicans
235 Democratics
288 amount of votes needed for republican presidential veto override.
So, quite literally, anything the democrats get passed through congress is vetoed by president bush. Bush and the republicans can''t stand to see someone else succeed where they failed. If they can''t win, nobody will. It''s called a scorched earth policy.
No, the war, the collapse the American economy, the prevalance of ignorance and ambivalence about climate change, all of this blame lands squarely in the lap of the party that has near total domination for eight years - the republicans. You really screwed up big time guys. You''ve got to go.
This was a bubble fueled by the greed of lenders and lack of government oversight. Once again, the taxpayers will be left holding the bag.
Prices here have come down only 7% from their peak so far. They have a LONG ways to go before I''d buy a house here.
Not sure lib, but I think he just called us "Whiners". Typical nutjob answer. Divert blame for their wide stanced incompetence.
Sorry nutjob, what''s happened to this country is criminal, and all blame is truely, squarely placed on YOU.
BUT ALL AMERICANS WILL NEED TO DO IT/VOTE IT AND GET IT DONE..IF NOT STOP WHINEING AND COMPLAINING..VOTE TO CHANGE IT OR SHUT THE F-UP, YOU ONLY HAVE YOUR-SELVE TO BLAME
Oh, and for those of you that say that "hey democrats controlled congress for the last two years!" ... well, lets look at those numbers shall we?
Posted by IRLiberal at 03:33 PM : Jul 16, 2008
Let''s look at reality, shall we?
The LIBS CONTROL all house and senate committees. The LIBS CONTROL the agendas of those committees, The LIBS CONTROL what legislation can be brought to the floors of the house and senate, the LIBS CONTROL when house and senate votes will be taken. The LIBS control the ability of the minority to offer amendments.
That 9% approval rating, THE LOWEST IN HISTORY, is all yours LIB.
-- Lisa Lerer on politico.com
Members of our Congress are in on this fleecing of the American people. They have to bailout Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac because they stand to lose too much and risk exposure of criminal activity.
Maybe you could stop the namecalling and foaming at the mouth long enough to engage your brain.
Give it a shot.
[Posted by mbcsmith at 04:55 PM : Jul 16, 2008]
nice try ... mr. objectivity.
everyone''s now in a big hole ... a hole your ''boy wonder'' has created for us all ... a hole he''s leaving for everyone else to figure out how to get out of.
at least he''s showing everyone what he''s really good at ... everyone should ideally be good at something.
I thought mbcsmith''s points were dead on. And, I see your response was nothing but insults. The last stand of a far left lib when he/she/it has been confronted with the facts.
I believe it should be repeated...
"Let''''s look at reality, shall we?
The LIBS CONTROL all house and senate committees. The LIBS CONTROL the agendas of those committees, The LIBS CONTROL what legislation can be brought to the floors of the house and senate, the LIBS CONTROL when house and senate votes will be taken. The LIBS control the ability of the minority to offer amendments.
That 9% approval rating, THE LOWEST IN HISTORY, is all yours LIB.
Thanks mbcsmith for the FACTs.
Shameful.
The light at the end of the tunnel is New Jersey.
Well, we need not look any further than "mbcsmith" as to how Hitler gained the loyalty of the German people. The patterns and propaganda from the Bush regime are no different and the regurgitation from their followers (mbcsmith) is also no different than the fascists of Germany in the 1930s and 40s.
It is really sad that it has come to this point in America, where in our K-12 history classes, many of us thought... "it could never happen here."
It is happening, which is why America''s days are numbered.
And so typical for the CBS folks.
Why do you think Jimmy builds houses ?
Posted by mbcsmith
Er, not quite. The Repiglicans hold enough seats in the Senate that they can block anything the moron-in-chief doesn''t like, e.g. ending the illegal war. People blame Congress for not holding the moron-in-chief and his cronies accountable for the illegal war and its build-up. They also are p1ssed off with the lack of lack of cooperation among the main parties in tackling problems - and this partisanship is what begun in earnest with the Repiglican takeover of Congress in 1994. Remember Newt Gingrich & Co? The moron-in-chief has been the most partisan president in history and he has poisoned the ability to get anything done in Congress until he''s gone.
Prices are soaring. The stock market is falling. Homeowners are losing their homes. Jobs are leaving. Banks are failing. The country''s infrastructure is falling apart. Crime is rising. The "bogus" "official" unemployment rate is rising. The dollar is WORTHLESS!
It''s 1929 all over again, 80 years later, complete with an idiot in the White House who can''t remember what he did an hour ago!!!!!!
SIG HEIL, BUSH!!!!!!
sig heil, COMPLETELY MORE OF THE SAME, McCain!!!!!
30s and 40s - Germany was trying to pay off debts set upon it for WWI, which the treaty of Versailles had placed upon it. Many parts of Germany had been given to other neighboring countries, and the people felt like there was no way out of the problem they were in.
To make this sort of comparison is pure BS from a far left idiot. Grow a brain, get involved in the real world.
Over SIX years of war. Civil rights breached by our commander in chief. Internationally recognized torture sanctioned by the White House. Two invaded and currently occupied countries. Hundreds of thousands dead, including OVER 4500 American soldiers. Billions of our tax dollars spent, and yes, are still being spent to this very moment.
Iraq, which had NOTHING to do with 9/11, is now an occupied country which will implode when we get out of it, whether that happens one, two, ten or five hundred years from now. A society that CHOOSES to be ruled by religion cannot become a democracy; it can only be a theocracy with voting cards.
Bin Laden still lives. The mastermind of 9/11 still walks free.
The one, simple word for this is: failure. No amount of deception, indignation or wailing by republicons can change these facts.
Failure of Bush. Failure of Cheney. Failure of the republicans.
Time for a change.
Posted by tiddsanbeer
Tell him where he''''s wrong. Come on now. I''''m sure a guy with such an intelligent moniker like tiddsanbeer will be able to debate the issues.
Posted by nokoolaid at 04:04 PM
Lol... yea, I don''t bother talking to that particular redneck. Not only would it be a waste of time - actually speaking to him would seem... degrading somehow. 8-)
"Prices are soaring. The stock market is falling."
Wrong. Stock market went up 276 points today. Oil prices are still dropping since President Bush lifted the Executive ban on oil drilling. If the Democrat-controlled Congress would do their part to allow drilling, the price would REALLY DROP.
"Homeowners are losing their homes."
Only those who got themselves into risky loans.
"Jobs are leaving."
Export goods jobs are up.
"Banks are failing."
Only those who were operating unethically.
"The country''s infrastructure is falling apart. Crime is rising.""
So, get rid of the illegal aliens, and see if it improves.
"The "bogus" "official" unemployment rate is rising."
Not sure what you mean here, but unemployment is still lower than at any time of the Clinton administration.
"The dollar is WORTHLESS!"
If you think so, throw your money into the street and see if anyone picks it up.
[Posted by rosieod4prez at 05:20 PM : Jul 16, 2008]
do you know why i use the name bobnjersey?
to flesh out all the ''authoritarion followers'' who have no argument ... congratulations ... you win ... and you lose ... all at the same time!
[Posted by OneAmerican- at 05:20 PM : Jul 16, 2008]
how stupid are you? the current market numbers are on the home page on the right side.
Posted by ritewingman at 05:49 PM : Jul 16, 2008
Exactly. What passes for "news" is really a liberal narrative, meant to steer the mindless into a specific action.
No wonder they call it "programming"...
[Posted by rosieod4prez at 05:19 PM : Jul 16, 2008]
looks to me like the insult game is bi-partisan ... mr. factual.
Posted by bobnjersey at 05:55 PM
Perhaps. I''ll admit that bush as the president is pretty insulting for everyone. Fortunately that will change soon.
Posted by rosieod4prez at 05:34 PM : Jul 16, 2008
............
I was not comparing the economic or political problems Germany was facing in the 1930s and 40s. Rather, I was making a psychological comparison of the people of Germany... the average citizens... whom under such duress were susceptible to whole-heartedly believing the rhetoric and propaganda of the time (which is similar to that of America today). And the majority of German people bought into that propaganda from the likes of Hitler, Goehring, and Goebbels. So anyone who had the slightest disagreement with their message were called "traitors", "anti-German", and whatever standard rhetorical label was spewed on a regular basis.
Similar to automatically referring to me or anyone making such inference as a "far left idiot". Thank you for proving my point.
[Posted by OneAmerican- at 05:48 PM : Jul 16, 2008]
wow ... aren''t you quite the financial analyst. are you working on wall street w/ this amazing insight.
do you have any view outside of a single day.
[Posted by OneAmerican- at 05:20 PM : Jul 16, 2008]
how stupid are you? the current market numbers are on the home page on the right side.
Posted by bobnjersey at 05:51 PM : Jul 16, 2008
.........
Yes, it is that obvious.
Sadly, what is not obvious to some is that the stock market AND the price of oil is mostly based on daily speculation and very little based on economic fundamentals. So, speculation is not always a top headline.
Posted by novickar at 06:02 PM : Jul 16, 2008
..........
Nice! Thanks for the post/tip!
[Posted by ritewingman at 05:57 PM : Jul 16, 2008]
wow ... you want to talk about programming?
don''t bother reading it ... because you''re all ''living it''.
http://home.cc.umanitoba.ca/~altemey/
The studies explain so much about these people. Yes, the research shows they are very aggressive, but why are they so hostile? Yes, experiments show they are almost totally uninfluenced by reasoning and evidence, but why are they so dogmatic? Yes, studies show the Religious Right has more than its fair share of hypocrites, from top to bottom; but why are they two-faced, and how come one face never notices the other? Yes, their leaders can give the flimsiest of excuses and even outright lies about things they%u2019ve done wrong, but why do the rank-and-file believe them? What happens when authoritarian followers find the authoritarian leaders they crave and start marching together?
Yeah. Bob. In Jersey. That kinda says it all.
Same thing happened to the Japanese in the late 80s (Yakuza gangsters obtained ''special'' access to the Japanese little guys legendary savings, went on a buying spree that tanked their liquidity for 10-15 years!).
Deregulation, especially of banking, is something not encouraged since the 1920''s, for the good reason that, back then, it caused the Great Depression, took America 10 years, millions of bankruptcies, and thousands of suicides to recover from.
But, of course, Phil Gramm ''knew'' better! So, quit yer whining!!
Never mind the fact that he timed his press release at the same time Bernacke (the Fed expert) was explaining how poor the economy is, so fewer people would see it.
Oh, and never mind the fact that your purchasing power, adjusted by inflation, decreased 1% last month alone.
No! Everything''s great!!
SAN FRANCISCO (MarketWatch) -- Japan''''s private-sector financial institutions held slightly more than 10 trillion yen ($95 billion) in debt securities issued by U.S. mortgage lenders such as Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac as of the end of the fiscal year in March, according to a published report.
Both the government and the private sector have positioned the debt of U.S. mortgage firms as their core investment vehicles because of the entities'''' high credit ratings and yields higher than those of Treasuries, the business daily Nikkei reported Thursday on its Website.
For now, Japanese financial institutions are not in a rush to unload them on the view that there is little risk of those products plunging in value, thanks to the effective guarantee by the U.S. government, Nikkei said.
they are saveing all there freinds on wallstreet and the world, like china,japan. f- the american is what congress and the whitehouse is saying..
all that matters is us retireing with large sums of cash from all the sucker americans.
Hitler only got tinto power because of those desperate times, which we are FAR from.
and, so if I point out you are far left idiot because of your characterization of the current administration being Fascist, I''m a Nazi. Now I understand the liberal mind.
Liberals can call anyone else a Nazi, but if you mention they are just a little off point, you ARE a Nazi. So show me where I called you anti-American, a traitor, or the like. Do you fear crystal night ?
Ha HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA
It is called Freedom of Speech, idiot. And by expressing my views, I''m NOT necessarily a sheep like your ilk would have the world think. You paranoid far left rumor monger.
Taxpayers gave money to a Fed who gave money to banks to pay back depositors who gave money to banks who gave money to banks who gave money to people who can''t afford to pay. In this game of musical chairs the little guys lose, cuz they''re expendable. Banks are too big to fail. In the end, homeowners and taxpayers will take the fall. But keep pushing that ''personal responsibility'' ethic if it makes you feel better about yourself. Its a natural human impulse to make money you didn''t earn, and when the bill comes due, the game is to be too ''important'' to the process to get stuck with it. Bankers have been playing that game forever.
Go to www.congress.org . Enter your ZIP+4 to get a list of YOUR elected representatives.
CLICK ON EACH NAME, and check the rep''s bio.
VOTE AGAINST anyone who was born 1946-1957.
CLEAN OUT THE BABY BOOMERS. SIXTEEN YEARS OF A BABY BOOMER GOVERNMENT HAS BEEN A DISASTER.
SIXTEEN YEARS IS ENOUGH!
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