Housing And Consumer Confidence: A Day Without Sunshine
May 27, 2008 by Douglas A. McIntyreWall St. could read the headlines one-by-one or taken together.
Together, it was not a terribly good day. Consumer confidence plunged unexpectedly to its lowest in 16 years in May. According to Reuters "The Conference Board, an industry group, said its monthly measure of consumers’ mood fell to 57.2 from 62.3 in April, well below Wall Street’s median estimate of 60.0."
News on housing was double-edged but only one edge was sharp. Prices of single-family homes plunged a record 14.1 percent in the first quarter from a year earlier, marking a pace five times faster than the last housing recession, according to the Standard & Poor’s/Case Shiller national home price index reported, Reuters wrote.
Homes did sell. Sales rose 3.3% in April to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 526,000, marking the first gain since last October, the Commerce Department reported according to Marketwatch.
Douglas A. McIntyre
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