Home prices see second biggest year-over-year drop on record, U.S. falls to 6th in global ranking, Lowe's takes a hit, and Andre Aggasi comes to the rescue.
Four unconnected but highly coincidental pieces of news in the last 24 hours.
First, The National Association of Realtors (NAR) announced yesterday that the median price of existing homes had fallen 1.7% from last year…the first drop in this type of value in 11 years. This was the second biggest drop on record, following a 2% decline in 1990, during a national recession. While prices of homes for sale or homes not yet built are much more prone to up and down value movement, the NAR assured the American public that if there has ever been a true sign of the housing bust, this is it. Check out the full article here:
http://money.cnn.com/2006/09/25/news/economy/homesales2/index.htm?postversion=2006092513
Hours later the World Economic Forum (WEF) announced that, "With a low savings rate, record-high current account deficits and a worsening of the U.S. net debtor position, there is a non-negligible risk to both the country's overall competitiveness and, given the relative size of the U.S. economy, the future of the global economy." The WEF gave the US (last years #1) the sixth place spot in overall global competitiveness rankings, ceding the top place to Switzerland. For the full story:
http://money.cnn.com/2006/09/26/news/companies/lowes/index.htm?postversion=2006092612
Soon after, Lowe's, the home improvement superstore, announced that its full year-end income would fall below pervious forecasts. Struggling to bring in business, they claimed that it would be a year to 18 months before the market could correct enough to bring sales back up to snuff. Some news outlets have drawn the conclusion that this was Lowe's way of saying the housing bust will last 12-18 months…here is one:
http://money.cnn.com/2006/09/26/news/companies/lowes/index.htm?postversion=2006092612
And finally, in the face of these silly doom-and-gloom housing bust allegations, recently retired tennis star Andre Agassi has chosen his next career: real estate. Today, Agassi announced a partnership with Exclusive Resorts LLC, a time shares company owned by AOL co-founder Steve Case. Together, they plan buy, sell, and develop "luxury resort communities" across the globe. While the majority of the nation struggles to even maintain the value of the home they can't afford to move out of, I'm sure Andre, Steve, and the chairman of the Time-Warner board will make a pretty penny selling gold plated tennis courts and diamond encrusted condo's to the rich and famous. Here's to finding a way to make money in a busted market within a crumbling economy. Cheers Andre! Read more here:
http://money.cnn.com/2006/09/25/news/newsmakers/agassi_career.reut/index.htm?postversion=2006092517
That's all for now bloggers. Either start renting, bunker down like Mogambo, or get busy building platinum bathtubs and sell them to Andre, because today's news is BLEAK for our economy.
Yours,
Ian
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