Jim Cramer Blog

Sales of existing homes fell for a fourth straight month in June and even a small increase in home prices was not enough to lift the gloom surrounding the housing industry.
The National Association of Realtors reported that sales of existing homes dropped by 3.8 percent in June to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 5.75 million units, the slowest sales pace in 4 1/2 years.

The median price of an existing home edged up slightly to $230,300 in June, a 0.1 percent increase from the sales price a year ago. That was the first year-over-year price increase in 11 months but analysts cautioned that it would take more months to determine whether the downward trend in prices has finally stabilized.
The decline in home sales was larger than had been expected and served to underscore the problems in housing, which is currently in the worst slump in 16 years.
Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke told Congress last week that he expected housing demand to stabilize and housing to be a less severe drag on growth in the coming months.

Labels: Existing Home Sales