New-Home Sales 50 Year Low

Here they pop up like mushrooms in the suburbs.

The title should be "New-Home Sentiment 50 Year Low" not Sales. It's all a state of mind.

Home sales are the back bone of the eCONomy.

If things were that bad the dow could not be near record highs.

Suicide rate in U.S. is up
It's climbed steadily since 1999. The most alarming increase is among middle-age adults: nearly 16%.
October 21, 2008|Denise Gellene and Gellene is a Times staff writer.After falling for more than a decade, the U.S. suicide rate has climbed steadily since 1999, driven by an alarming increase among middle-age adults, researchers said Monday.

A new six-year analysis in the American Journal of Preventive Medicine found that the U.S. suicide rate rose to 11 per 100,000 people in 2005, from 10.5 per 100,000 in 1999, an increase of just under 5%.

The report found that virtually all of the increase was attributable to a nearly 16% jump in suicides among people ages 40 to 64, a group not commonly seen as high-risk. The rate for that age group rose to 15.6 per 100,000 in 2005, from 13.5 per 100,000 in 1999.

Susan P. Baker, an epidemiologist at Johns Hopkins University Bloomberg School of Public Health and an author of the study, said she was baffled by the findings. Sociological studies have found that middle age is generally a time of relative security and emotional well-being, she said.

"We really don't know what is causing this," said Dr. Paula Clayton, research director of the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention, who was not involved in the study. "All we have is speculation."

One possibility, she said, is that the increase in suicides might be tied to a concurrent increase in abuse of prescription pain pills, such as OxyContin. Studies have shown that people who abuse drugs are at greater risk for suicide, she noted.

Another possible explanation, she said, was the drop in hormone replacement therapy after it was linked to health risks in 2002. Women who gave up the drugs or decided not to take them might have been more susceptible to depression and potentially suicide, she said.

Dr. Ian Cook, an associate professor of psychiatry and biobehavioral sciences at UCLA's David Geffen School of Medicine, who was not involved in the study, said stresses of modern life, particularly worries in the aftermath of the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, might have a role.

Untreated depression is the leading cause of suicide, he said.

"The bottom line is while we can't infer a lot of things about what is causing the trend, I think it cries out for better depression screening and treatment," he said.

Suicide rates declined 18% from 1986 to 1999, helped in part by a focus on prevention among teenagers and the elderly.

In the current study, researchers found little or no change in the suicide rates for three other age groups: 10 to 19, 20 to 29, and over 65.

Suicides for whites ages 40 to 64 rose 17% from 1999 to 2005, researchers said. For middle-age white men, the rate rose 16% to 26.9 per 100,000 in 2005, from 23.1 per 100,000 in 1999. For white women in that age group, the rate rose 19% to 8.2 per 100,000 from 6.9 per 100,000.

The suicide rate among middle-age African Americans rose 7% from 1999 to 2005, but it was not enough to drive up the overall suicide rate among blacks.

For black men ages 40 to 64, the rate rose 5% to 10.4 per 100,000 from 9.9 per 100,000, and for black women in that age group, the rate rose 14% to 2.5 per 100,000 from 2.2 per 100,000.

Baker said she had no idea why the increases among whites were higher.

[link to articles.latimes.com]

The Dow is only at record highs due to the money being printed by the Federal Reserve. We haven't fixed jack in the fundamentals of the root problem, or any of the new problems that have shown up since the housing market crashed back in 08. We still have that looking to dump again this year along with the municipal bond market too. Shit looks ugly this year ladies and gents.

16 pts. 16!! That is just insane. Also it probably on goes back 50 years because they don't have any data beyond that. I've noticed this with most of the bad news stats...15 years, 32 years...they just don't have data beyond the stated timeframe.

16!! Good grief.


Of course some numbers-tard will soon appear and provide some crazy ass explanarion as to why 1+6=12.21.2012

Very true but it has picked up a good bit here in Las Vegas.

90% of the sales are going to Asians. Go figure.

And before touting me as a racist, think about it. Who is getting richer in this economy. Is it people from Europe, Mexico, South America? Nope it is China, and a few other smaller Asian countries. These people are moving to the US in droves and they have money.

A lot, I don't remember the percentage, but a lot of the new home sales in Vegas are cash. Pretty crazy!

Last Edited by Ricfly52 on 02/15/2011 11:20 PM

We need a few years with little to no new home construction. Absorb existing inventory, fix housing sentiment generally. This is actually good news in fundamental terms: it is giving us the time we need to fix the housing market.

The Dow?? HAAAAA whats that
Daily now the housing market is on the up and up.
Then 30 minutes later the housing market is in a slump still.This is almost a daily report now.
The Dow?? HAAAAA whats that?