New home sales tank 19 percent to end 2018

[marmar]

(CNBC) The government shutdown hasn't completely stopped the flow of stunningly bad housing data.

Sales of newly built homes fell 18 percent in December compared with December of 2017, according to data compiled by John Burns Real Estate Consulting, a California-based housing research and analytics firm.

Due to the partial government shutdown, official government figures on home sales for November and December have not been released. ....... (more)

https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.cnbc.com/amp/2019/01/07/housing-affordability-map.html

[Ohiogal]

1. So much winning ...

[PoindexterOglethorpe]

2. And just a few days ago there was an article in my local newspaper

(the Santa Fe New Mexican) about how home prices here had spiked and the inventory is somewhat low.

According to zillow, the price of my home, after declining slightly or staying much the same since I bought it ten years ago, has suddenly spiked and would sell for a bit less than double what I paid. I actually take that number with a huge grain of salt, and do not assume that even if I were to sell tomorrow, it would go for that much. But it does look like I am finally sitting on some nice equity. Plus, I've done some improvements recently that would help it sell quickly, if not make much difference in the price.

[Squinch]

3. Here's what I don't get: the economy is clearly tanking, but the stock market is ticking up

since the New Year.

If investors were rational, the stock market would be in the toilet.

Financial people do often have their heads in the sand when it comes to bad news (see all the financial experts claiming "the economy is just fiiiiiine" on the eve of the 2008 debacle), but it seems like they're way late on this.