Big housing blow: New home sales fall, again
By Derek Kravitz, Associated Press
WASHINGTON – Sales of new U.S. homes fell to a six-month low in August. The fourth straight monthly decline during the peak buying season suggests the housing market is years away from a recovery.
The Commerce Department said Monday that new-home sales fell 2.3% to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 295,000. That's less than half the roughly 700,000 that economists say must be sold to sustain a healthy housing market.
New-homes sales are on pace for the worst year since the government began keeping records a half century ago.
High unemployment, larger required down payments and tougher lending standards are preventing many people from buying homes. Plunging stocks and a growing fear that the U.S. could tip back into another recession are also keeping people from entering the housing market.
Pierre Ellis, an analyst at Decision Economics, said that until wages increase and hiring picks up, home sales will languish.
The "bad news is the evident absence of optimism that sales will pick up to any degree," Ellis said.
While new homes represent less than one-fifth of the housing market, they have an outsize impact on the economy. Each home built creates an average of three jobs for a year and generates about $90,000 in taxes, according to the National Association of Home Builders.
Last year was also the fifth straight year that sales have fallen. It followed five straight years of record highs, when housing was booming. Read more
Today's Business Tip
Next business tip >>
**********************
"It takes your enemy and your friend, working together, to hurt you to the heart: the one to slander you and the other to get the news to you". Mark Twain (1835-1910)
Please support our campaign
Next business tip >>
| LOAN CALCULATOR WITH PAYMENT SCHEDULE GENERATOR
More calculators
Compound Interest Calculator Percentage of Gain (or loss) Calculator Length Unit Converter Body Mass Index (BMI) Calculator |
USEFUL LINKS Business Articles - Business Dictionary - Economics Dictionary - Encyclopedia - Free Dictionaries - Health Corner: A to Z - Post a Free Ad - Classifieds - Mortgage & Loans Calculators - Country Currency Finder - Small Business Ideas - Business & Finance Tips - Business Links - Events Calendar - Post an Event - New York State Quiz - G8 Countries/World Maps The Federal Reserve System (also known as the Federal Reserve, and informally as the Fed) is the central banking system of the United States. It was created in 1913 with the enactment of the Federal Reserve Act, and was largely a response to a series of financial panics, particularly a severe panic in 1907. Over time, the roles and responsibilities of the Federal Reserve System have expanded and its structure has evolved. Events such as the Great Depression were major factors leading to changes in the system.[5] Its duties today, according to official Federal Reserve documentation, are to conduct the nation's monetary policy, supervise and regulate banking institutions, maintain the stability of the financial system and provide financial services to depository institutions, the U.S. government, and foreign official institutions. The Federal Reserve System's structure is composed of the presidentially appointed Board of Governors (or Federal Reserve Board), the Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC), twelve regional Federal Reserve Banks located in major cities throughout the nation, numerous other private U.S. member banks and various advisory councils. This division of responsibilities of the central bank falls into several separate and independent parts, some private and some public. The result is a structure that is considered unique among central banks. It is also unusual in that an entity (the U.S. Department of the Treasury) outside of the central bank creates the currency used. According to the board of governors of the Federal Reserve, "It is not 'owned' by anyone and is 'not a private, profit-making institution'. Instead, it is an independent entity within the government, having both public purposes and private aspects." The U.S. Government does not own shares in the Federal Reserve System or any of its component banks, but the Government does receive all of the system's annual profits after a statutory dividend of 6% on member banks' capital investment is paid and an account surplus is maintained. The government also exercises some control over the Federal Reserve by appointing and setting the salaries of the system's highest-level employees. The Federal Reserve transferred a record amount of $45 billion to the U.S. Treasury in 2009. Purpose The primary motivation for creating the Federal Reserve System was to address banking panics. Other purposes are stated in the Federal Reserve Act, such as "to furnish an elastic currency, to afford means of rediscounting commercial Read more... |
Loading...
Loading...
