How the World Works

Tuesday, Sep 25, 2007 08:59 PDT

A litany of housing woes

Once upon a time, analysts debated about whether the worst was over. But there's no argument right now.

By Andrew Leonard

Some housing data points:

The National Association of Realtors reported that "existing home sales were down 4.3 percent to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 5.50 million units in August from a level of 5.75 million in July, and are 12.8 percent below the 6.31 million-unit pace in August 2006." That's the slowest pace in five years.
Inventories of unsold homes ballooned to a 10-month supply -- the largest in 18 years.
The Standard & Poors Case-Shiller Home Price Index recorded the steepest drop in home prices in 16 years.
Lennar Corp., the largest U.S. home builder, reported the worst quarterly loss in its history -- $514 million.
And finally, a sign that housing woes are hitting the consumer pocketbook: Retailers Target and Lowe's both announced lowered sales estimates for the fall.

These numbers speak for themselves.