Fall market officially a fizzle
Just in this morning - pending sales were down again in October.
Homes put under agreement last month across the Bay State fell 22 percent over October 2009, the Massachusetts Association of Realtors reports.
The numbers look slightly better when you look at the month to month figures, but really we are splitting hairs here. Pending home sales rose a stunning .06 increase in October over this September - essentially flat over September's already anemic numbers.
Pending condo sales fell 31 percent year over year, but were up 7.3 percent in October over September's lows.
Dead cat bounce anyone?
If you are looking at the fall selling season, it's pretty much a wrap now.
Pending sales - homes put under agreement but yet to close - are the freshest indicator of current market activity.
The big indicator to keep an eye on now is prices.
Home values seem likely to grudgingly yield as sales bounce along at record lows, forcing sellers to either pull their homes off the market or slash asking prices.
On that note, check out the recent forecasts on that front.
Mark Zandi predicts an 8 percent drop through the third quarter of 2011 while Fiserv forecasts a 7 percent decline through the middle of next year.
Both seem fairly timid, cover your you-know-what predictions.
After all, as recently as February, Fiserv was predicting a 4 percent rise in home prices this year.
The fact is, with the crack cocaine of home buyer tax credits finally having worn off, we are in a new world here.
And the downward pressure from a still high jobless rate and skittish lenders is starting to have its way.
