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National vacancy rates in the first quarter 2008 were 10.1 (+ 0.4) percent for rental housing and 2.9 (+ 0.1) percent for homeowner housing, the Department of Commerce’s Census Bureau announced today. The Census Bureau said the rental vacancy rate was not statistically different from the first quarter rate last year (10.1 percent), but was higher than the rate last quarter (9.6 percent). For homeowner vacancies, the current rate was not statistically different from the first quarter 2007 rate or the rate last quarter (2.8 percent each). The homeownership rate at 67.8 (+ 0.5) percent for the current quarter was lower than the first quarter 2007 rate (68.4 percent), but not statistically different than the rate last quarter (67.8 percent).

Countrywide Financial (NYSE: CFC), a diversified financial services provider, and New Vista Asset Management have joined together to find qualified buyers for Countrywide’s REO properties. The program is designed to help minimize the impact of foreclosures on neighborhoods by reaching out to consumers interested in residing in these communities. In the relationship, New Vista’s network of real estate professionals who have deep roots in minority communities are assigned the responsibility and will work to ensure that prepared homebuyers, often first-time and minority homebuyers working with New Vista professionals, have the opportunity to purchase REO properties.

Sales of new one-family houses in March 2008 were at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 526,000, according to estimates released jointly today by the U.S. Census Bureau and the Department of Housing and Urban Development. This is 8.5 percent (±16.1%)* below the revised February rate of 575,000 and is 36.6 percent (±11.1%) below the March 2007 estimate of 830,000.

The median sales price of new houses sold in March 2008 was $227,600; the average sales price was $292,200. The seasonally adjusted estimate of new houses for sale at the end of March was 468,000. This represents a supply of 11.0 months at the current sales rate.

April 22, 2008 - Existing-home sales edged down in March, remaining within a narrow range of sales activity that has persisted since last September, according to the National Association of Realtors®.

Existing-home sales – including single-family, townhomes, condominiums and co-ops – were down 2.0 percent to a seasonally adjusted annual rate (1) of 4.93 million units in March from a level of 5.03 million in February, and remain 19.3 percent below the 6.11 million-unit pace in March 2007. A rise in condo sales in March was offset by a drop in single-family sales. Regionally, sales rose in the Northeast and West but fell in the Midwest and South.

Today, President Bush announced his intention to nominate Steve Preston to serve as the next Secretary of Housing and Urban Development. A strong executive with an outstanding track record in the private sector and at the Small Business Administration (SBA), Administrator Preston has a deep financial and capital markets background, and he understands the important role that the housing market plays in the broader economy. President Bush is confident that Administrator Preston is a reformer who will act aggressively to help struggling Americans obtain affordable mortgages and keep their homes, as well as help ensure that all Americans have access to safe, decent, affordable housing.