Baby boomers love their real estate. So much that they're counting on it to help them fund retirement.
Since most of them haven't saved much, they'll probably need it.
One in four Americans born from 1946 to 1964 own more than one property, according to a survey of nearly 2,000 boomers done this spring by Harris Interactive for the National Association of Realtors. They're also much more likely than the total U.S. population to own their primary residences.
Boomers have "an almost insatiable desire for real estate," David Lereah, the NAR's chief economist, said in a statement. They see real estate as "a way to build and protect a nest egg."
Boomers own 57% of vacation homes and 58% of rental property, according to the NAR. Beyond their primary residences, 13% of boomers own vacant land, 8% own rental property, 7% own a vacation or seasonal home and 2% own commercial real estate.
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Sales of existing homes fell in April, and the price posted the smallest increase in 4½ years, new signals that the nation's once red-hot housing market has cooled.
The National Association of Realtors said Thursday that sales of previously owned single-family homes and condominiums dropped 2% last month to a seasonally adjusted sales pace of 6.76 million units.
The median price of homes sold in April rose to $223,000, an increase of 4.2% from April 2005. That represented the smallest year-over-year price gain since September 2001. The price was up $5,000 from March.
Prices in the Midwest actually fell 1.2% in the April to April period, a fact that Lereah attributed to weak job growth and a rising inventory of unsold homes.
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Sales of new homes rose unexpectedly in April to the fastest pace this year, but the level of unsold homes rose to a record high.
The Commerce Department reported that sales of new single-family homes increased 4.9% last month to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 1.198 million units, the highest rate since December.
The pace of activity caught economists by surprise. They had been expecting a decline in sales, reflecting rising mortgage rates that stand at the highest level in nearly four years.
However, the April pace was down 5.7% from the year-ago rate.
April's median home price rose 2.8% to $238,500 from March. That represented a 0.9% increase over the $236,300 median sales price in April 2005, far below the double-digit price gains sellers had been enjoying during the recent sales boom.
The backlog of unsold homes rose 2.4% to a record of 565,000 homes on the market at the end of April. At the April sales pace, it would take 5.8 months to deplete that backlog.
Most economists believe the slowdown in housing will be gradual as long as inflation pressures remain moderate enough to allow the Federal Reserve to soon take a pause in its two-year campaign to push interest rates higher.
For April, home sales were strong in all parts of the country except the Midwest, where sales fell 1.1%, the second straight monthly declines. Sales were up 8.2% in the Northeast, reflecting a rebound after a drop of 7.6% in March. Sales were up 7.8% in the South and 2% in the West.
Contributing: Reuters
After five years of sizzling growth, U.S. home price appreciation is showing signs of cooling.
Pending home sales — a leading market indicator — are down from a year ago, according to the National Association of Realtors. In many of the nation's hottest markets, brokers also are reporting a growing gap between sellers' asking prices and what purchasers are willing to pay.
For prospective home buyers, the market shift provides a chance to remaster an old negotiating tactic: the art of the lowball offer. Strategies for securing a below-market price vary by locality. In any region, however, experts say bargain-hunting buyers can close favorable deals by applying a few basic principles, and by always using an Exclusive Buyer's Broker to help them negotiate the best possible price.
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The stories keep piling up. In many once-sizzling markets around the country, accounts of dropping list prices have replaced tales of waiting lists for unbuilt condos and bidding wars over humdrum three-bedroom colonials.
The message is clear. Five years of superheated price gains rescued America from stock market collapse, put billions in consumers' pockets, and ignited a building boom that bolstered the nation's economy. But it's over. The great housing bubble has finally started to deflate.
You won't find that news in broad national statistics or the upbeat comments from the real estate industry. The latest official figures, for example, show both new and existing home sales rising in March, a mixed bag on prices - and a record number of new homes on the market.
But FORTUNE's on-the-ground reporting - in what up to now have been some of the nation's hottest areas - paints a very different picture: Contracts are being canceled, deals are drying up, prices are starting to drop. The psychology is shifting even as thousands of new homes and condos join the for-sale listings each day - so the downward pressure will only get worse.
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