According to new data released today by the National Association of Realtors (NAR), July marked the fastest sales growth in homes that we’ve seen in the last two-years.

In July, the annual rate of home sales hit 5.24 million homes (7.2-percent up), beating analyst expectations of only 5 million units. Just a month before, in June, that number was 4.89 million.

The rate also grew consecutively in the last four-months, the last time there was a four-month consecutive upswing was in June 2004.

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American homes facing foreclosure were up 24% in Q1 of 2009. 804,000 homes got foreclosure notices, up from 650,000 in the same period last year. 191,000 properties completed foreclosure in Q1 2009.

The news comes as banks will start to reissue foreclosure notices after a government backed foreclosure break. The numbers are only expected to get worse.

President Obama is also set to put his mortgage plan into action, offering banks $75 billion in incentives to help curb the foreclosure crisis with modified loans.

According to new figures released today by Statistics Canada, new home prices in January dropped 0.6% from December 2008. This is the most significant fall in over 12 years, the latest being the 2.0% January drop in February 1991. Analysts were merely expecting a 0.2% fall. Year over year, new housing prices were down 0.8% in Canada.

For January 2009 over December, St. John’s and Saskatoon experienced 0.8% growth. Quebec also experienced growth at 0.6% in the country. Edmonton saw the biggest decline of 10.4% from December to January.

It is important to remember that new housing starts and new home prices are direct key indicators of where the economy is going, and with poor figures released today in recently in the U.S. things will get worse before they get better.

A key indicator of where the economy is going is housing starts. According to new figures just released by the U.S. Department of Commerce, new single-family home sales are down to a record low of more than 48% YoY with January sales down 18% YoY. The average price of a home sold in the U.S. in January was $234,600, down from $260,200 in December, and down a significant $284,600 from last year. Sales in the Northeast were down 12.5% from December, and 50.9% year over year. Sales in the Midwest were down by 5.6% from December, and down 33.8% year over year. The western U.S. saw the biggest fall of 59.9% year over year in new home sales.

With slumping demand and prices, I would expect construction and housing starts to dip, which will adversely affect the construction sector and likely cost thousands of jobs. Experts now predict the Dow Jones Industrial Average could fall to about 3,000-4,000 points by the end of the year, and with key indicators such as housing starts and sales, that figure unfortunately is looking more and more probable.

President Obama has just unveiled $75 billion of the $787 billion economic stimulus package will go towards foreclosures. The money will be used to help responsible struggling home owners refinance their < !- google_ad_section_start ->mortgage< !- google_ad_section_end ->s with fixed-rate 15 or 30 year mortgages at current market lending rates which are about 5% The plan only applies to home owners that still owe more than 80% of their home’s value as of March 4 2009 when the plan takes into effect. Additionally, the new payments cannot exceed 31% of the homeowners total income.

People are struggling to pay their < !- google_ad_section_start ->mortgage< !- google_ad_section_end -> payments because of falling wages, massive job cuts, the credit crunch, and falling home prices (aggregate home prices in the U.S. are down just less than 20%). Obama believes under the plan, about 9 million Americans will be helped to avoid foreclosure. Read the full story

Prominent economist Will Dunning warned in a report today that Toronto`s hot condominium market could cool off. 30%-50% of units sold in buildings are purchased by speculators who are looking for high returns. Those investors are now selling because of the lower than expected returns and high holding costs. Very simply, there is too much supply; no one is buying, so prices are coming down. In 2009, there will be a new record set for the number of completed condo units. Just last September, there were just under 35,000 condos for sale in the GTA, which is more than three times the GTA`s average. In fact, the number of units for sale are up 75% in November, and prices are continuing to fall sharply. This could be a dangerous time for speculators who don`t have as much capital to support carrying costs, especially given the high volatility and job losses. Please see my other posts for my thoughts on the real-estate market.

Toronto home prices fell again consecutively in November, just as we predicted earlier. The average price of a home in Toronto has fallen to $368,500, down by 6% from $393,700, in the same month YoY. The median price for Nov 08 was $312,000, down 4% from $325,000 last year in the same period. Homes are also taking longer to sell, 41 days in Nov, compared to 32 days in the same period last year. The Toronto housing market is now clearly a buyers market. Given global financial crisis will only get worse, consumer spending is falling, demand is declining, and as more people continue to lose money from equities, I can confidently say Toronto housing prices will further decline, so hold off from buying even if you can get a good rate. Don’t let anyone deceit you (including your trusted agent) into buying a home right now since no interest rate will offset the expected price declines in the next few months. Please see my analysis for the Toronto October 08 housing market, you can see just how much prices have fallen just month alone.

In 2007, the New York investment bank, Morgan Stanley (now recognized as a Bank Holding Company), firstly slashed almost 5,000 jobs and has now announced it is slashing yet more jobs; 10% of employees in its main business, the institutional securities unit. The company employees just less than 47,000 employees, and a majority of that population works in the institutional securities unit. The Morgan Stanley co-president James Gorman offered a cautious outlook and said the company would continue (and increase) operating in equity derivatives, commodities, credit, mergers and acquisitions, cash trading, principal investments, proprietary trading, and more. These job cuts, again, are a direct consequence of the financial crisis.

Today in other news, the Dow plunged and happening now in after-hours trading, Japan’s Niki is trading already 5% down. Google’s stock is also taking a hit as its now trading below $300 per share, which is very significant because Read the full story