Issue Date:1/12/2009
Home Values Take Nearly 5-Year Step Backward Single-family home prices throughout America continued to decline at a record pace through October, according to the S&P/Case-Shiller Home Price Indices. Prices in the nation's 20 largest cities are down 18 percent since October 2007, the largest drop since the index began in 2000. Of those cities, 14 posted double-digit declines. "The bear market continues," said David M. Blitzer, chairman of the Index Committee at Standard & Poor's. "Home prices are back to their March 2004 levels." The West has been the region hardest hit by the housing bust. Homeowners in Las Vegas, Phoenix and San Francisco are seeing annual declines in excess of 30 percent.
Sales of new single-family homes took a beating in November, according to the U.S. Commerce Department. Estimated November figures stand at 407,000 units, down 2.9 percent from the revised October figure of 419,000. Sales are down 35.3 percent from November 2007 figures. This was the slowest sales pace since January 1991. The median price of new homes sold in November was $220,400, up slightly from $218,000 in October, while the average sales prices was $287,500, up from $272,300 in October. There is an estimated 374,000 new homes available, down from 402,000 in October. This represents an 11.5-month supply at the current sales rates.
Sales of existing single-family homes also took a dive in November, falling 8 percent to a seasonally adjusted rate of 4.02 million, according to the National Association of Realtors (NAR). This rate is 8.8 percent below the November 2007 figure of 4.41 million units. The median sales price for an existing single-family home in November was $180,800, down 12.8 percent from November 2007. Overall existing home sales fell 8.6 percent in November, according to the NAR, to 4.49 million units from a revised October figure of 4.91 million units. This rate is 10.6 percent below the 5.02 million-unit pace of November 2007.
Manufacturer News Amorim Revestimentos (Portugal) bought a 25 percent stake in US Floors Inc. (Dalton, Ga.) for $10 million on Dec. 31, according to published news reports. The purchase makes US Floors a fully vertically integrated U.S. cork flooring manufacturer and expands Amorim's market share of U.S. cork flooring.
Distributor News W.F. Taylor Co. (Fontana, Calif.) appointed Stanley Stephens (Bristol, Pa.) a distributor of its full line of floor covering adhesives. In addition to Stanley Stephens' corporate distribution center, the company has branches in Annapolis, Md., and Richmond, Va.
On the Web Schafer Hardwood Flooring Company (Tecumseh, Mi.) launched a new Web site at www.schaferhardwoodflooring.com. The site features the company's solid and engineered flooring selection.
In Memorium Allan Pyne, owner of Brookfield, Wis.-based Sunshine Flooring Co., passed away on the evening of January 9 after a brief illness. Pyne won several NWFA Wood Floor of the Year awards, including the inaugural residential Floor of the Year award in 1990, and also received an NWFA Wood Floor Industry Leadership Award in 2001. Services will be held later this week in Brookfield. Anyone interested in more information should contact Chuck Crispin at [email protected] or 312/907-0819.
Mark Your Calendar The NWFA will hold an Advanced Installation School Feb. 25-27, a Custom Design and Finish School March 10-13, and a Wood Flooring Basics School March 17-20. All schools will be held at NWFA headquarters in St. Louis, and NWFA scholarships are available for all technical schools. Furthermore, the Advanced Installation and the Custom Design and Finish schools are NWFA prerequisites for attending the NWFA's Expert Installation and Expert Sand & Finish schools. For more information, e-mail [email protected], visit www.nwfa.org, or call 800/422-4556 (USA), 800/848-8824 (Canada) or 636/519-9663 (local and international).
Job Watch Trout River Lumber LLC (Crewe, Va.) is looking for commission-based sales representatives to introduce new private label programs in several sales territories. Résumés should be e-mailed to [email protected].
NWFA Member Services Booth selection for the NWFA's 2009 Convention in Long Beach, April 29 - May 2, is now underway. Don't miss your chance to reach the industry's decision-makers at the largest convention anywhere dedicated exclusively to wood flooring. Booth selection will be available based on seniority, and notices will be sent identifying the selection process. For more information, visit www.nwfa.org, and click on the "NWFA 2009 Convention" link.
