New home sales is making new historical lows,

and existing home sales reached the lowest level since 1996.

(click to enlarge; graph courtesy of Calculatedrisk)

After the expiration of home buying credit, this was expected.  But the magnitude of decline still shocked people.  Due to slow sales, inventory of unsold homes starts to ramp up again.

And this is happening despite historically low mortgage rate.  Two things might be working against potential home buyer’s psychology: 1) Is my job secure?  2) Will the house price keep falling?

(click to enlarge; graph courtesy of Northern Trust)