Time for more housing stimulus. The question is how.
According to numbers released today by the National Association of Realtors, home sales fell 3.8% in May. They were down 15% from a year ago. Home prices were down as well, 5% lower than a year ago. And while 4% might not sound like a big drop for sales, for this time of year it is. May and June are typically prime home buying months. Most people like to move in during the summer so they can have their kids in by the school year. Plus houses just look better in the Spring. So these two month typically dictate how well the housing market will do all year. And if that is the case, the housing market is going to be pretty bad for a while. The number of homes sold in the U.S. in the month, about 450,000, was only slightly better than what home sales were two years, which was the worst May on record.
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