Sales of existing homes rose by the largest amount in more than five years in September. But analysts cautioned against reading

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问题     Sales of existing homes rose by the largest amount in more than five years in September. But analysts cautioned against reading too much into the gain, noting that it reflected conditions before the latest upheaval in financial markets increased the likelihood of a recession in the overall economy.
    The National Association of Realtors reported that sales of existing homes rose by 5. 5 percent from August to September to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 5.18 million units—far better than the flat results analysts had expected. On an unadjusted basis, sales were up 7. 8 percent from September last year.
    But even with the gain in sales, prices kept falling. The median sales price has dropped to $191,600, down by 9 percent from a year ago. In Richmond, Va. , Jack Jebo sold his three-bedroom house last month for $267,000, after lowering his price $18,000. He carried two mortgages for two months before the house was sold in the Richmond area. "In retrospect,(the experience)probably wasn’t too bad," said Jebo, 32, an attorney. "At the time, it probably felt pretty difficult because we didn’t get an offer before we lowered the price. "
    But analysts said that the current financial crisis, which has contributed to the biggest upheavals on Wall Street since the 1930s, was sending consumer confidence down, unemployment up and had greatly increased the prospects that the country was either in or about to enter a fullblown recession. All these factors were expected to add to the headwinds buffeting housing in the months ahead.
    "In October, mortgage applications sank to six-year lows," said Sal Guatieri, an economist at BMO Capital Markets. "This suggests house sales, like the rest of the economy, fell off a cliff because of the worsening credit crunch. "
    Many analysts are predicting that home prices—already down 18 percent nationally from their peak in mid-2006—could decline another 10 percent, as a continued glut of foreclosed homes being dumped on the market depresses prices further.
    The National Association of Realtors estimated that 35 percent to 40 percent of sales currently are distressed sales—either foreclosed homes or short sales in which the owner is selling the house for less than the value of the mortgage.
    Distressed sales are having a big impact in lowering prices in some formerly red-hot sales markets in such regions as the West, where sales prices fell in September by 18.5 percent from a year ago.
    Lawrence Yun, chief economist for the Realtors, said there were some glimmers of hope that the bottom of the housing slump may be near. He said that a sales turnaround first seen in California was beginning to broaden to other regions of the country including Colorado, Kansas, Minnesota, Missouri and Rhode Island.
We can infer from Paragraph 6 that

选项 A、home prices has fallen down 28% compared with what’s in mid-2006.
B、many foreclosed homes have been abandoned by their former owners.
C、home prices might fall down 28% from their peak in mid-2006 in the future.
D、more foreclosed homes have been abandoned because of the falling price.

答案C

解析 推理判断题。根据题干提示定位至第六段。根据本段可知,第一、2006年年中的房价是高峰;第二、全国范围内的房价已经下降了18%;第三、虽然房价已经下降了18%,但是有可能还会继续下跌10%;第四、房价继续下跌是因为大量持续不断的取消抵押品赎回权的房屋被抛向市场压低了房价。[A]把将来要跌的lO%算作现在已经跌的,故不正确;[B]、[D]把取消抵押品赎回权的抛向市场理解为房主抛弃了这些房屋,故不正确。所以正确答案是[C]。
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