(Bloomberg)
The number of new houses for sale in the U.S. dropped by the most in four decades in June, indicating that cutbacks in construction are starting to make a dent in the property glut. There were 426,000 homes for sale at an annualized pace at the end of June, the fewest since 2004 and down from 543,000 a year ago, the Commerce Department said today in its new-home sales report. The 5.3 percent drop is the biggest since November 1963 and marks the 14th straight monthly decline. Lower home prices are enticing potential homebuyers into the market, a necessary step for emerging from the worst housing slump in a quarter century. The supply of homes at the current sales rate fell to 10 months’ worth in June from 10.4 months the prior month, the Commerce report showed. “It is likely that inventory levels will continue to fall because new construction activity is low relative to the level of household formation,” Tony Crescenzi, chief bond strategist at Miller Tabak & Co. in New York, wrote today in a note to clients. More
Seven-day old Vancouver girl put up for sale on Craigslist
Author: markw // Category: News, Psychology
Sunny Dhillon
Globe and Mail
The parents of a seven-day old Vancouver girl were arrested after allegedly trying to sell her on Craigslist. “This certainly in my 27 years is one that I thought I would never see,” said Constable Tim Fanning of the Vancouver Police Department.
The bizarre incident began Friday afternoon when Maple Ridge, B.C., grandmother Marilyn Bateman clicked on to Craigslist, a popular classifieds website, in search of home furnishings. What Mrs. Bateman instead found was an ad offering an infant for $10,000. “I was shaking,” she said. “I opened it up and I was literally shaking and I thought, ‘Oh, my gosh. This can’t be.’ I mean, even as a practical joke or a hoax … you can’t do that.”
The ad, titled, “MUST HAVE!!!!!! - $10,000,” described the child for sale as “a new baby girl, 7 days old, healthy and very cute.” More
Also see: German parents post baby on eBay for 1 euro
JOHN TROUP
The Sun
Paul Osborn, 44, kicked out wife Sharon and advertised her on the internet auction site – with bids hitting £500,100. It offered his “cheating, lying, adulterous slag of a wife” to the highest bidder – and became an internet phenomenon, with users forwarding the link worldwide. But Sharon, 43, denies an affair and cops are now investigating Paul for harassment.
MoT inspector Paul heard rumours in March that Network Rail manager Sharon, his wife of 24 years, was having an affair with a man at work.
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