Nationwide new home sales fall, Hawaii real estate sales slow but steady

This morning a report came out that nationwide new homes sales dropped in August to the lowest level in seven years.

Sales of new homes dropped by 8.3 percent in August from July, the Commerce
Department reported, driving down sales to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of
795,000 units. That was the lowest level since June 2000, when sales clocked in
at a pace of 793,000

However, August numbers were right in the middle of the credit crisis news, which kept many buyers on the sidelines. Since then the Fed dropped rates 50 basis points to make money more avaialable to banks.

On the flip side, The Commerce Department also reported Thursday that the economy grew at a 3.8 percent annual rate in the April-to-June quarter, the strongest showing in just over a year.

The Associated Press said last week that the odds of a recession are now higher than one-in-three but are still under 50 percent. In another report, fewer people signed up for unemployment benefits last week, raising hopes that the recent weakness in the jobs market won't be long lasting.

As usualy, the nationwide data is worse than the news in Hawaii. Most real estate in Oahu is selling just fine, but there is one builder in Ko Olina, Centex, that is having a hard time selling, and sales in Ocean Pointe have slowed enough for the builder to offer about 3% in concessions to the buyer, plus full upgrades.