New Home Sales for July

The Commerce Department released its July 2006 new home sales report. "Sales of new one-family houses in July 2006 were at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 1,072,000, according to estimates released jointly today by the U.S. Census Bureau and the Department of Housing and Urban Development. This is 4.3 percent (±11.5%)* below the revised June rate of 1,120,000 and is 21.6 percent (±10.1%) below the July 2005 estimate of 1,367,000."

The figure was weaker than the average Wall Street estimate of a pace of 1.105 million units. The level of new home sales was down 21.6% from the pace a year earlier, when many analysts had warned about a property market bubble.

The average sales price fell to $230,000 from $233,800 in June. It has been falling since a peak of $257,000 in April [corrected] but is virtually unchanged from the level a year ago of $229,200. (RTE Business)

More bad news for the 'soft landing' cheerleaders. The 'soft landing' theory is being put to rest. Soon the argument will merely be how hard will the landing be.