Modern Day Ghost Towns?

I roamed around a lot when I lived in New Mexico and I came across several ghost towns. I loved finding them out in the middle of nowhere and poking around in them. If I had more time I would probably researched the reason why they were abandoned but we didn’t stay too long at them. Usually they were on private property and had big “KEEP OUT” signs and we had to always watched out for a Rancher with a big rifle. Still though, the sign and the lure of ghost town adventure didn’t deter my friend Kevin or me! I mean, how could you not be deterred?

I was chatting with the Chairman yesterday when he sent me this link from Bloomberg about the rise in house inventories and how they’re at the same level since 1973.

In January 1973, the number of finished new homes for sale was 97,000, when the U.S. population was about 212 million, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. In December 2007, 197,000 completed homes were on the market and in January 2008 there were 195,000. The current population is 303.5 million.

It seems that back in 1973, the % inventory to the US population was 0.05% and today its 0.06%. I really don’t know if these numbers are a cause for all the calamity the Bloomberg article alludes too but what it does mean is that home prices probably have further to fall. It’s just a matter of time till we work off the inventory and hit bottom and I think we’re almost there.

Update

It’s late summer 2020 and houses are flying off the shelf, so to speak. The Covid19 pandemic is driving up real estate sales in the suburbs like crazy!

In July, there was a 44 percent increase in home sales for the suburban counties surrounding the city when compared with the previous year, according to Miller Samuel Real Estate Appraisers & Consultants. The increase was 112 percent in Westchester, just north of New York City, and 73 percent in Fairfield County, Conn., just over the state border. via NYTimes

and

At the same time, the number of properties sold in Manhattan plummeted 56 percent, according to Miller Samuel.

Ouch!