March 28, 2011 (Chris Moore)
The Winans International Real Estate Index (WIREI)™ reports that new home prices have declined 24% from their high in 2007 to a new low of $224,050, the worse price decline since the Depression. This eclipses the indices previous record low in October, 2010, of $229,300.
The all time high for the Index was in March of 2007 when the index reported new home prices averaged $296,000, a 110 year peak.
“This marks the worst price decline in U.S. new home prices since the 33% decline from December 1939 to December 1945. Clearly, residential real estate prices nationwide continue to be weak, and I doubt there will be sustained U.S. economic recovery without a rebound in housing values,” said Ken Winans, President of Winans International Investment Management & Research.
Winans had stated at the end of January, “Even with low mortgage rates, a nationwide recovery in housing will probably not happen in 2011. Past real estate bear markets ended when new housing inventory was below 5 months, and the median length of time to sell a new house declined to 4 months. It could easily take another year to dry up excess inventory and for mortgage credit to ease.”
The Winans International Real Estate Index (WIREI)™ is the only index that measures U.S. home prices from 1830 to present and posts new housing data without a 2-month lag found with other popular real estate indexes.
More information on the Winans International Real Estate Index can be found at www.winansintl.com. WIREI charts and data can be purchased from www.globalfinancialdata.com and www.srcstockcharts.com
Tags: WIREI, new home prices, worse price decline, Depression, economic recovery, mortgage rates, bear market, housing inventory
