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UBS Research: Real Estate Author: James Feldman

New Home Sales Rise by 4.1 Percent

Sales of new homes rose unexpectedly in August while the median price of a new home fell for the first time since December 2003, the Commerce Department said Wednesday.

GE to Buy Crow Family Real Estate for $2.2 Billion

General Electric Co.'s real-estate unit agreed to buy 147 properties across the U.S. from a fund run by the Trammell Crow family's investment firm for $2.2 billion. The acquisition includes 19 shopping centers, which GE will sell to Kimco Realty Corp. for about $920 million, according to a statement today from Crow Holdings, the family's Dallas-based firm.
via: Bloomberg

Lennar Profit Tumbles 39 Percent on Buyer Incentives as Housing Sales Slow

Lennar Corp., the third-biggest U.S. homebuilder by market value, said profit fell 39 percent in its fiscal third quarter on the costs of incentives to lure buyers. Revenue increased 20 percent to $4.2 billion. Homebuilders, including Lennar and Pulte Homes Inc. have been offering inducements such as stainless steel appliances, free landscaping and enhanced financing to entice buyers. Lennar reported an 18 percent increase in the number of houses sold to 12,337, at an average price of $316,000.
via: Bloomberg

US Housing Slowdown - Prices of existing homes fell for the first time in 11 years

Existing-home sales slipped 0.5 per cent to an annual rate of 6.30m units in August from a level of 6.33m July, according to the National Association of Realtors. They were 12.6 per cent down on the year before

Economists had expected a fall in sales to 6.2m, following a sharp 4.1 per cent decline in sales in July. “The housing market continues to weaken, but the deterioration in this report was relatively modest,” said John Ryding, economist at Bear Stearns.
via: Financial Times

SoCal Real Estate Sales

Home sales in Southern California continued at their slowest pace in nine years as price levels appeared to be nearing a plateau.

A total of 25,628 new and resale homes sold in Los Angeles, Riverside, San Diego, Ventura, San Bernardino and Orange counties last month. That was up 12.8% from 22,712 in July, and down 25.3 percent from 34,292 for August a year ago, according to DataQuick Information Systems.

All Homes;	No Sold Aug-05	No Sold Aug-06	Pct. Chg	Median Aug-05	Median Aug-06	Pct. Chg
Los Angeles	11,653	9,193	-21.1%	$494K	$517K	4.7%
Orange County	4,708	3,203	-32.0%	$617K	$633K	2.6%
San Diego	5,379	3,666	-31.8%	$493K	$482K	-2.2%
Riverside	6,452	4,879	-24.4%	$388K	$415K	7.0%
San Bernardino	4,522	3,611	-20.1%	$344K	$365K	6.1%
Ventura	1,578	1,076	-31.8%	$592K	$598K	1.0%
So. California	34,292	25,628	-25.3%	$476K	$489K	2.7%

Housing Slump in U.S. May Lead to First Drop Since Depression

The sharpest slowdown in U.S. home-price growth in three decades is trapping owners with mortgages they can't afford, pushing unsold homes to a record 4.42 million and gutting profits for builders such as Lennar Corp. and Toll Brothers Inc. The U.S. median home price next year may fall for the first time since the Great Depression, says Gabriel Stein, chief international economist with Lombard Street Research in London.

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Housing decline to bottom out in mid-2007, says industry group

A downswing in home sales and building should bottom out sometime during the middle of 2007 before recovering in the latter part of 2008, a home-building industry economist said Wednesday.

All four -- including analysts from the National Association of Realtors and the Office of Federal Housing Enterprise Oversight -- agreed housing activity is slowing. Economists added the slowdown poses some risks to the U.S. economy but that a drop-off in activity isn't nationwide.

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Federal officials expect U.S. home sales, prices to stagnate

Homeowners face a long period of stagnation in housing sales and prices -- perhaps as long as a decade -- in the aftermath of the five-year housing boom. via Newstex