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Sales of new homes nosedived in May, both in the West and nationwide, following the expiration of the federal homebuyer tax credit.
Sales of new houses in the 13 western states sank 53.2 percent in May from the previous month, and nationwide the decline was 32.7 percent, according to a joint report by the U.S. Census Bureau and the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development.

In Los Angeles County the median home price in May was $346,350, up 17.4 percent from the same month last year, according to the California Association of Realtors. California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger signed a new homebuyer tax credit into law April 1.

Nationally, it was the lowest new-home sales level since the government began keeping track in 1963. The decline was greatest in the West, though all regions of the country saw a steep month-over-month decline in new-home sales, the report says.

"We fear that the appetite to buy a [new] home has disappeared alongside the tax credit," said Paul Dales, U.S. economist with Capital Economics in Toronto. "After all, unemployment remains high, job security is low and credit conditions are tight."

AZGrizFan wrote:Gee.....here's a shock:

Sales of new homes nosedived in May, both in the West and nationwide, following the expiration of the federal homebuyer tax credit.
Sales of new houses in the 13 western states sank 53.2 percent in May from the previous month, and nationwide the decline was 32.7 percent, according to a joint report by the U.S. Census Bureau and the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development.

In Los Angeles County the median home price in May was $346,350, up 17.4 percent from the same month last year, according to the California Association of Realtors. California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger signed a new homebuyer tax credit into law April 1.

Nationally, it was the lowest new-home sales level since the government began keeping track in 1963. The decline was greatest in the West, though all regions of the country saw a steep month-over-month decline in new-home sales, the report says.

http://www.bizjournals.com/losangeles/s ... a=e_du_pap" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Pay no attention....nothing to see here...move along....everything's fine....

How many more times are we going to have to see us rob from Peter to pay Paul before we realize it does NOT work???

"We fear that the appetite to buy a [new] home has disappeared alongside the tax credit," said Paul Dales, U.S. economist with Capital Economics in Toronto. "After all, unemployment remains high, job security is low and credit conditions are tight."

As long as we are a consumption-based economy, we're basically fucked.

Skjellyfetti wrote:

Living in prison didn't stop nearly 1,300 inmates from cashing in on a popular tax break for first-time homebuyers, a government investigator reported Wednesday. Their take: more than $9 million.

In all, more than 14,100 tax filers wrongly received at least $26.7 million in tax credits meant to boost the nation's slumping housing markets, said the report by J. Russell George, the Treasury Department's inspector general for tax administration.

"This is very troubling," George said. "Congress created and modified the homebuyer credit to stimulate the economy and help taxpayers achieve the American dream, not to line the pockets of wrongdoers."

The National Association of Realtors says the tax credit has generated 1 million new home sales that wouldn't have happened otherwise.