Just the Facts

Housing Market Indicators

Florida existing home sales: +12% (month-to-previous-year comparison)

Florida existing condo sales: +12% (month-to-previous-year comparison)

Florida existing home median price: $136,500

Florida existing condo median price: $90,900

Florida consumer confidence: 68

National existing home sales: -3.5% (month-to-previous-month comparison; all housing types)

National existing home median price $174,000

National (Freddie Mac) mortgage rate 4.15% (all housing types)

"Buy when there's blood in the streets"

Overall nationally, housing prices (new and resale) have dropped more on a percentage basis, than during the Great Depression of the 1930s.

New-home sales are shaping up to be the worst on records dating back 50 years. A seasonally adjusted annual rate of 298,000, the Commerce Department said today. That's less than half the 700,000 that economists say represent a healthy market. Last year, 323,000 homes were sold -- the worst year on records that go back to 1963.

Although mid-priced home sales fell last month, sales actually increased in July for homes selling for more than $750,000.

Interest rate lowest in 40 years

The average rate on a 30-year fixed mortgage fell to 4.15 percent this week -- the lowest level on records dating back to 1971.

Investors Buying Now

Investors targetlng foreclosures and other deeply discounted properties accounted for 18 percent of sales in July.

Foreclosures and short sales made up about 29 percent of all home sales last month. That's up from about 10 percent in past years.

Home sales on pace to be the worst in 14 years

Home sales fell 3.5 percent last month to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 4.67 million homes, the National Association of Realtors said today. That's far below the 6 million that economists say must be sold to sustain a healthy housing market.

Many people are reluctant to purchase a home two years after the recession officially ended. Sales are lagging behind last year's 4.91 million sold -- the weakest in 13 years.

Bigger down payments, tougher lending rules, high debt and a shortage of desirable starter homes have kept many would-be buyers away. Even people with good credit and enough money for a down payment are holding off because they are worried home prices will keep falling.

The Housing Slump Gonna End?

A study, released today by Fiserv, predicted "a broad-based recovery for housing that will begin in early 2012," and home prices for more than 95 percent of metro areas will rise by the beginning of 2013.

"Between the first quarter of 2012 and the first quarter of 2013, homes are projected to increase by an average of 2.7 percent, with gains in 365 out of 384 metro areas," Fiserv said in a press release.

S&P downgrades US credit rating

The United States has lost its sterling credit rating from Standard & Poor's. The credit rating agency on Friday lowered the nation's AAA rating for the first time since granting it in 1917.

Stocks drop but hiring better than expected

Hiring picked up slightly in July and the unemployment rate dipped to 9.1 percent, an optimistic sign after the worst day on Wall Street in nearly three years.

The Labor Department says employers added 117,000 jobs last month. That's an improvement from the past two months.

The mild gain may ease investors' concerns after the Dow Jones industrial average plummeted more than 500 points over concerns that the U.S. may be entering another recession.