Latest Housing and Employment numbers are in...

So there is good news and bad news...

Jobless claims declined for the second straight week.  Unemployment benefits for the week dropped 29,000 to 409,000.  This beat the median estimates which were calling for the benefits to drop to 420,000.  This further points to the fact that April's surge might have been more of a result of temporary events and not a sign of a deeper erosion in the job market. 

Now for the not so good news.  Although, if you read my blog you will not be surprised by this data.
Here is the latest data:

WASHINGTON (MarketWatch) - Sales of existing single-family homes and condos fell 0.8% in April to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 5.05 million, the National Association of Realtors reported Thursday. The decline was a surprise. Economists surveyed by MarketWatch expected sales to rise to 5.25 million units in April, based on a surge in pending home sales in March. Sales rose a revised 3.5% in March to 5.09 million units, down from the initial estimate of a 3.7% rise to 5.1 million units. The median price of homes sold was down 5% in April from last year at $163,700. Inventories of existing homes for sale rose 9.9% to 3.87 million units in April, representing 9.2 months' supply, up from 8.3 months in March


Keep in mind that this is national data and not specific to our area.

Numbers don't lie....do they?

Last month seemed to me to be the slowest month in real estate since I started in 2003.  Oddly enough, it wasn't for the lack of business.  We had a few listings and a handful of buyers keeping us busy.  However, it just seemed like we were working in a vacuum.  Open Houses had very few visits, the inventory for my buyer's needs was lacking, and despite all the "all cash" offers that went through one of our properties they never pulled the trigger.  I talked to a few other agents that expressed the same somber conclusion about the month of April.  So I decided to look at some statistics and see if numbers backed up the ghost town feeling.  Here are the sales statistics for Huntington Beach in 30 day increments.

Last 30 days..............157 sold

Prior 30 days.............143 sold

Prior 30 days.............107 sold

Prior 30 days.............102 sold

To put it in perspective the same dates in 2010 yielded 95, 99, 110, and 184 sales respectively.  So although more houses have sold this year than last YTD, the april-May numbers are still concerning.  Historically the first three months of the year are a horrible time to buy or sell.  I often refer to it as our ill timed summer vacation.  However, last year is more indicative of the surge in sales that ususally starts to take place as the ground dries up and people start leaving their houses again.  Who am I kidding, in Huntington we just don't go outside because it is an uncomfortable 67 degrees and not in the 70-80 range where we don't feel lethargic.  Anyway, this year we are about 15% off our abismal sales from last year!  I will monitor this and post again in a month or so to see if this is just a slump or a sign of what is to come.