cnbc's diana olick is joining us tonight with more on this. diana. >>> good evening, david. that $8,000 tax credit coupled with bargain basement home prices are really driving today's sales, but the bulk of the action is on the low end of the market. >> reporter: the bargain hunters are out in droves, lured by low home prices and historically attractive affordability. realtors report since their peak in july 2006 home prices are down 23%, down 15% in just the last year. and foreclosures, which rose to a new record again in the second quarter of this year, are only pushing prices lower. >> buying a foreclosed home seems like a good deal. od deal.y, opportunity for a >> welcome to our foreclure bus tour. >> reporter: in fact, one third of all homes sold in july were foreclosed properties. >> now is a great time to buy a house. >> reporter: which is why realtor bob lucito is running bus tours of local foreclosures. >> you are going to buy, 10%, 20%, 30% below market. maybe even more. >> reporter: you can see it in july sales numbers, sales of homes below $100,000 surged 39% fro

. >> well, diana olick is in washington with more on the new home sales. bob pisani at the nyc and scott wapner at the nasdaq and the market reaction there. kick it off for us. >> mandy, sale ofs of newly constructed homes rose, beating expectations yet again, up 9.6%, and even more poshts, that big jump we saw in june was actually revised up in if real numbers. take a look at the rest of the data, if you will. the all-important inventory number, new construction, fell to a seven and a half month supply from an eight and a half month supply in june, the lowest since april of 2007 and well off its high of a more than 12 month supply this past january. absolute number of homes for sale also fell to 271,000. that is the smallest amount since april of 1993. prices are down 11.5% year over year, obviously driving sales with the median price of a newly constructed hometown to 210,100 it is. >> we think the market has found a bottom and is bouncing along quite nicely, but there are some risks still out there, specifically the first thing is that the home buyer cr

swan, chief economist at messer owe financial, and real estate expert herly oel after son, and diana olick joins us, as well. diana, what do you make of today's news? >> i'm sorry. >> i'll take it for a second. first, we did see the unexpected drop in housing starts but that was driven by multifamily which was having all kinds of problems with credit, and unable to get loans for the large buildings. we did see a bump up of 1.7% in single family housing starts so that's an improvement, and we have seen a bump up in january of this year. good news on single family versus multi. diane? >> i agree 100%. that's exactly what is happening. the condo market not getting any funding in the commercial real estate. we saw them being able to fund commercial mortgage-backed securities, extending the programs, talf programs, because commercial has not been funded in a long time and there is nothing in the pipeline. so that's going to remain weak. so starting to see something bumping along on the single family side. a lot of build to suit are starting to come back a little bit. individuals actually paying

. >> but up next, diana olick with a reality check. no, a realty check. heldly, diana. you did so good with bob toll. >> thanks, larry, and thanks for getting the realty check right. the foreclosure crisis, is it the thorn in the side of a true housing recovery? maybe. maybe not. >>> okay. welcome back. home loans failed at a regard pace in july, despite ongoing federal and stay programs to avoid foreclosure. realty track says 1 in 355 households with a loan got a foreclosure filing. diana olick joins us live from washington on what this all means for the housing sector. diana, there had been some hope we were going to see some recovery in this, and yet today's numbers really showing something different. >> absolutely. so we have to ask the question, can housing really recovery with foreclosures continuing to rise amid so many positive housing numbers? last month, just a dismal report from realty track, the online foreclosure sale site reports that in july, over 360,000 properties received some kind of foreclosure filing, default, auction notice or bank repossession. up

cnbc's diana olick with more on the big surge in new home sales, diana. >> that's right, maria. it definitely took the street by surprise another jump in sales this time new homes up 9.6% in july. and on top of that the june number was revised up. now, at that new sales pace inventories went down to a 7 1/2-month supply from an 8 1/2-month supply in june. that's the lowest level since april of 2007. the real number of newly built homes on the market today is at levels not seen since 1993. now, prices are down 11 1/2% overall year over year but prices are driving sales. >> we do think the housing market has found a bottom and it's bouncing along the bottom quite nicely, but there are some risks still out there. specifically the first thing is that the home buyer credit expirex expires at the end of november. we think the administration and congress need to look into extending that to support the housing market into 2010. >> i admit at this time in the afternoon i get a little bored reporting headline numbers so i went dwreerp into the report and got to see something on page 4 tha

cnbc's housing experts, diana olick joins us from washtd washington with more. diana. >> >> that's right. the second quarter showed a healthy surge in home sales, but the recession on price social security driving the surge and we know it's happening on the lower end of market. take a look at the latest quarterly metro home price report from the national association of realtors showing prices rose nationally, but off 3% from a year ago. while 39 states showed increases, these ten showed year over year, which is really an even better indicator of a real trend. the worse states are california, arizona, florida, nevada, the usual suspects. overall, 129 of the 155 metropolitan statistical areas reported lower prices from a year ago. and the steeper price drops are broadening now to atlanta, chicago, seattle, new york, new jersey area and here in d.c. distress sales, that is foreclosures and short sales, accounted for 36% of the transactions. again, that's pulling down the prices. now, a couple other important things to note from this report, a full one-third of the b

diana olick joins us from washington. diana, i am a huge fan of you and your reports, but how many foreclosure records can we break? it's every month in a row now. >> i know it seems that way, steve. clearly the government and industry modification programs simply can't keep up. in july, over 360,000 properties received some kind of foreclosure notice, and yes, that's up 7%, and yes, that is a new record. now, the usual suspects still lead. california, nevada, arizona and florida account for nearly 57% of all of the foreclosures in the nation, but the pain is spreading. we're seeing big jumps in states like kansas where foreclosures up 94% from a year ago. oregon up 84%. does this mean housing cannot recovery? the experts are noting a strange contradiction. >> we're seeing increased levels of foreclosure activity, and we're seeing price stabilization at the same time. so it could just be that there is so much buy interest, because the affordability levels have become basically record levels of affordability. and that there

diana olick has it all for us. >> that's right, erin. home sales are climbing back but all thanks to still falling prices. the price report shows sales rose 3.8% in q-2 from q-1 to seasonally adjusted annual rate. still nearly 3% below a year ago. 39 states showing quarter-to-quarter increases and right here in d.c. as well. double-digit gains in some states like maryland, new york, new jersey, indiana and washington state to name a few. like i said, it's all thanks to falling prices. in the second quarter, 129 out of the 155 metropolitan statistically areas reported lower median existing single family home price from a year ago. 26 with price gains. distressed sales, foreclosures and sort sales, 36% of the transactions. again, pulling prices down. disstressed properties typically sell at a 15% to 20% discounted to their comp. national median price is down to 174,000. that's below q-2, 2008. a couple of key facts in this report do not bode well for the second half of this year. number one, first-time home buyers accounted for one-third o

diana olick is on that story. >> we have been turning a lot of corners, haven't we? >> yeah. meanwhile, the stocks of the home builders rising on that news. lennar, kb home, toll brothers, and pulte. 0-345-2550 tdd#: 1-800-345-2550 if i'm breathing, i'm thinking about trading. tdd#: 1-800-345-2550 i always have my eye out for a stock on the move. tdd#: 1-800-345-2550 doesn't matter if a company sells computer chips tdd#: 1-800-345-2550 or, i don't know, fish and chips. tdd#: 1-800-345-2550 i'll look at all kinds of stocks before i settle on one. tdd#: 1-800-345-2550 if i think i'm onto something i'll check it out, tdd#: 1-800-345-2550 you know, see what other traders are up to. tdd#: 1-800-345-2550 when everything feels right though, tdd#: 1-800-345-2550 that's when i get serious. tdd#: 1-800-345-2550 and the minute i get into something, tdd#: 1-800-345-2550 i already know when i want to get out. tdd#: 1-800-345-2550 of course, every now and then i'll talk with somebody tdd#: 1-800-345-2550 who knows what i'm trying to do. tdd#: 1-800-345-2550 (announcer) switch to schwab tod

diana olick. >> we've got the fhfa home price index. i'm going to confuse you because after the good news from case-shiller. home prices fell 0.7% in the second quarter of 2009 from the first quarter of 2009. they're down 6.1% year over year. the good news is that they're falling less steeply than they have been but quarter to quarter, you're still seeing that decline. now to understand why these indexes are different, you have to know that the fhfa does only fannie and freddie loans. that is that's how they track home prices is purchases of homes with fannie and freddie conforming loans. the s&p case-shiller measure the top 10 and 20 market composite index in the 10 largest and 20 largest cities in america but that's any home sale not just fannie and freddie. so these numbers are always a little bit more conservative on the fhfa number, but they are still seeing prices decline quarter over quarter as the case shhill is er saw increase for t first time quarter over quarter, again, you're measuring different things but the important thin

diana olick joins us from washington with the details on that. hey, diana. >> that's right.ew home sales rose for the fourth straight month, beating expectations by a lot yet again in july. and on top of that, that 9.6% gain, the june jump was actually revised up. it's all good signs. and here's another. take a look at inventories. new construction inventories fell to a 7.5 month supply lowest since april of 2007 and well off the 12-month supply since past january. the number of newly built homes on the market today. but take a look at exactly what is selling and you might get insight into today's buyer and builder. sales of homes that have not yet started construction, that is empty lots, rose 33% in july from the month before. sales of completed homes or spec homes fell 6%. some believe this shows more confidence that buyers are now will to go wait longer to close on homes, not fearing those homes will fall in value. it also shows builders are focusing on new orders, because their margins on spec homes are going to be much lower. now, just one more little data point, if yo

diana olick is going through the rest of the data and will have more of the bad.if there is any good, she will find it. >> futures right now up 680. they had been much higher earlier this morning. and you got to discount it by 141 to get to fair value. so about 5 1/2 above fair value, about 50 points on the dow. >> let's get straight to senior economics reporter steve liesman for more on those jobless and retail figures. steve, what do you see and is it fair to say walmart really was the place people were shopping in july? >> i think it's also important that haines, i don't believe, was shopping in july. when he goes to the store we see a measurable bounce to the numbers. >> he even grew his own tomatoes. >> that's part of the problem. >> i'm going shopping in september. fair warning. >> that's an issue. i'm going to talk about that in just a second. overall these numbers are disappointing, especially for those who see a straight line up when it comes to the recovery and the economy. the recovery is going to be a bouncy one and not a straight line. july down 0.1%.

diana olick with the details. diana, a lot of people believe that today's data shows housing may be turning, huh? >> it may be in one area of the market, michelle. the first-time tax credit coupled with bargain basement home prices really are driving today's sales. but the bulk of the activity is on the low end of the market. >> reporter: sales of homes below $100,000 surged almost 39% in july. bump up another $100,000 and we're still in the positive, up 9%. but when you cross the quarter million line, it all goes south, and the higher the price, the more sales drop off. over $1 million and sales are down 23%. over $2 million, down 32%. >> sales are very sluggish on the very high end. one interesting development is that despite the historically low mortgage rates, we are seeing increase number of buyers bypassing the mortgages altogether, going all cash. >> now, despite the fact that so much of that is going all cash, that could be investors in the market. 16% of that all cash as compared to usual about 10% or lowe

. >> i'm diana olick in washington. we've seen a lot of positives in housing, but will they continue into the dog days of summer? we get numbers tomorrow morning at 10:00 a.m. >>> and before we say good night, take a look at the day on wall street, a pretty good, though way off the highs of the afternoon. 9539 at one point. the index was above 9600, actually. we did have strength in technology, the oil really the laggard there. technology somewhat of a laggard. the nasdaq still picked up 6.25 points, to 24 the last trait on the nasdaq, and s&p 500 up 2.5%, even oil prices, pretty big story today as well, oil price finishing at 71-mrs., pulling back from yesterday's ten-month high. tomorrow we're going to take a look at a number of events for this market, including more economic data. of course today we had a bit of -- and consumer confidence out also better than expected. of course, we did get ben bernanke's reappointment by president obama. have a wonderful evening. i'll see you tomorrow. "fast money" is up next. >>> t

cnbc's diana olick in washington now with that angle. diana? >> that's right, maria, the national association of home billioners monthly sentiment survey rose a cautious one point to 18 in august. remember of course that the line between positive and negative sentiment is 50, so we've still got a ways to go, but at least it's going in the right direction. now, the survey covers three areas -- current sales, buyer traffic, and sales expectations over the next six months. current sales went unchanged. buyer traffic rose three points. but sales expectations took the biggest jump, up four points. >> we really need to think about where it is on an absolute level. you know, by any measure it's still pretty dismal. it's coming off of its lows. but i think as we've seen the pace of housing sales are also coming off their lows. i don't think the kind of gradual easing up from the bottom is what is embedded in the stock. >> now, granted, most stocks are taking a hit today. so you don't see any real reaction from the confidence number. but overall the sto

diana olick is in washington with the details. hi. >> hi, michelle. we're beginning to see a real trend in sales gains in certain markets. while prices aren't gaining, they're not falling as fast either. take a look at a new report from zillow.com to give you a real sense of local color. u.s. home values posted their tenth straight quarterly decline but the rate of decline is slowing ever so slightly. it was 12.4% in the quarter before. zillow finds 39 markets where sales volume is up year over year. so far, we've mostly seen month per month gains. big ones like miami, l.a., phoenix, las vegas and denver all showing gains. granted the market showing gains are the most distressed markets and the activity is mostly foreclosures. take a little snapshot of that, las vegas, sales up 40% year over year. in june, 67% of those sales were folks. again, we have to get rid of the foreclosures. so not bad. prices are down by half putting 83% of all homeowners underwater on their loans. nationwide, nearly a quarter of borrowers are underwater and that will keep th

cnbc's diana olick with the details. a. >> foreclosures accounting for more than one-third of home sales, all activity is on the low end. take a look. existing home sales, jumped up to 5.4 million annualized units inial. up 5%. that's the highest since august of 2007. and the biggest monthly jump up since the realtors started tracking in 1999. >> this is a very broad-based recovery. of we have seen a rise in sales in the northeast, the west region remains very strong. the florida market continuing strong, buying activities. so very broad spaced recovery of home buyers coming in and jumping into the market. >> but, again, prices are driving sales. prices down across all regions, 15.1% nationally, but far worse out west, down 28%, where foreclosure sales dominate the market and bargain hunters and investors are coming back. you can see it in the way those buyers are paying for their homes. >> despite the historically low mortgage rates, we are seeing increasing number of buyers by passing the mortgages all together, going a

cnbc's diana olick is in washington with all of the details. diana?>> mandy, for a subprime, it is all about prime now, and we're still setting records. the delinquency rate for all loans in q2 rose to 8.86%, up 2.5 percentage points from a year ago. the percentage of loans in the foreclosure process 3.3%, up from a year ago. so add it all up, and just over 13% of all loans in the u.s. are in some kind of trouble. but the culprit loans are changing. >> we had 43 states that actually had a drop in foreclosure starts for the subprime arm, completely flip side on the prime side, increase in foreclosures on prime fixed loans. so it's clearly an issue being driven much more by the economy rather than issues with the type of loan. >> and just take a look at the numbers, the percentage of prime fixed rate loans in delinquency rose 5.it ii 3%, sticking in the last quarter. but now take a look at subprime fix. it actually leveled off in the past quarter. same with subprime arms. and some good news is that foreclosure starts were basically flat, thanks to gover

diana olick is in washington with the details. >> that's right. it was really a mixed bag in the housing starts numbers today. single family bumping up a little bit and plult family really tank. take a look at numbers. single family starts rose a modest 1.7% in july from june. multifamily fell to 13.3%. builders may be juicing the single family pipeline based on improved demand and getting the buyers in before the tax credit expires. those are spec homes. now, single family permits rose 5.8% making permits now up 34% since january. all this news better for the building industry but not the longer term condition of the housing market which is still struggling under bloated supply and rising foreclosures. >> in 2006, housing starts peaked at over a million and a half units based on builders' peshceptions of these things which we see turned out to be wrong and they fell by more than 50% after that. so the million dollar question is what's the reality and what's the perception. >> and that's what we're asking also today with the news zillow.com report

we're going to talk more about that in just a moment when we get to diana olick. and we're going to welcome our guests in just a moment. now to diana ole nick washington with the details of what really sparked this move from the housing front. diana, what can you tell us? >> well, that's right, maria. sales are surging back thanks to the first-time home buyer tax credit and bargain basement home prices, but the bulk of the activity is on the low end of the market. sales of homes below $100,000 surged almost 39% in july. bump up another $100,000, and we're still in the positive, up 9%. but when you cross the quarter million line, it all goes south. and the higher the price, the more sales drop off. over a million, and sales are down 23%. over 2 million, down 32%. >> sales are still very sluggish on the very high end. one interesting development is that despite the historically low mortgage rate we are seeing increasing number of buyers bypassing the mortgages altogether, going all cash. >> now, granted, a lot of those cash buy querz are investors, but there are stil

here's diana olick with the details. >> that's right.e first time in three years we've seen the prices turn positive quarter to quarter, but there are some red flags. take a look at the numbers first. the national index rose 2.9% quarter to quarter. again, the first time positive in a long time, although the index is still down 14.9% year over year. even the index's inventor though is cautious. >> i didn't say that we've reached the bottom. i said that this is very suggestive of a major turning point, but we've seen other corrections like this that were reversed. notably a year ago in early 2008, we saw the rate of decline of home prices suddenly get much smaller, and it looked good, but then it collapsed again. >> now, here are the three red flags we see in the data. first time home buyer tax credit which adds $8,000 worth of purchasing power. next is the facts that case shiler is dmot seasonally adjusted and historically prices rise in the spring. finally, bang and state mora toria kept a lot of foreclosures from hitting the market in

diana olick, thanks for joining us. >>> will the summer rally last into september? over the last 50 years, there's only been 17 times when the dow has been up year to date. up from june to august. and up in august and in those 17 time, the dow has averaged a decline of 1.73% and has only been positive three out of 17 months. can september 2009 buck the trend? that's a lot to live up to. joining us is the he had the it tore of stock trader's almanac and managing director at stifel nicolas. is there going to be a september to remember? >> i think it's setting up more for a typical september. all the big rallies have come after a decline like the bear market bottom in '98 and august 31st. you gaet a rally after-we've ha a great summer. i could see us settling back a little bit. >> absolutely nothing about this year has been typical. why would september be typical? >> well, i think the only reason why it would be typical is just because in september is when we start getting the third quarter profit warnings coming out en masse. which will raise a lot of fears about any

after toll brothers reported the first annual increase in signed contracts in four years and cnbc's diana olickjust spoke exclusively to the chairman and ceo, bob toll, about the health of the housing market. diana? >> well, that's right, rebecca. toll reported a 3% jump in signed contracts over year over and a whopping 44% jump from the previous quarter. now, given that toll is the luxury home builder and most of the action in today's market is on the low end i asked ceo bob toll what's behind this unexpected surge and if he expects it to continue. >> well, thanks so much for joining us, mr. toll. now, most of the activity that we've seen in the housing market has been on the low end of the rket and yet you saw a 3% year over year increase in signed contracts. that's the first time in four years. and yet you are a luxury home builder. to what do you attribute that? >> i guess the luxury end isn't as dead as it's been predicted to be, or observed to be. it could be that this market pretty much follows the fortunes of the general public that's invested. the stock market is going up. and we haven

diana olick is here from washington with more details. >> melissa, dare we say frost in home prices? not quite yet. but two new quarterly reports, one government index that measures fannie and freddie loans and the case-shiller. first let's go to the fhsa, prices fell 0.7% in the second quarter from the quarter before, down 6.1% year over year. but the rates of depreciation are slowing, and we are seeing gains month-to-month. now to the big news. the quarterly case-shiller price home index. i'll show you the nationalin deblgs which mirrors the top 10 and 20 markets. for the first time in three years, we are seeing a positive 2.93% quarter to quarter. of index is down 4.9% year over year, but even the index's inventor is cautious. >> i didn't say we reached a bottom. i said this is very suggestive of a major turning point. but we have seen other corrections like this that -- notably, a year ago in early 2008, we saw the rate of decline of home prices suddenly get much, much smaller. and it looked good, but then it collapsed again. >> okay. so why is shiller not feeling frothy about hi

is that something to be concerned about in diana olick in washington now with the story. hey, diana. >> hey, maria. and that's right, it's all about prime loans now. while total delinquencies and foreclosures rose to a new record of just over 13% of all loans in trouble, prime loans really led the way. the percentage of prime fixed rate lows in delinquency rose to 5.23% from just 4.68% in the first quarter and really spiking over the past six months as opposed to subprime. subprime fixed rate delinquencies showed the most dramatic spike during the crash, of course, but starting now to level off a bit in just the past two quarters. >> we had 43 states that actually had a drop in foreclosure starts for the subprime arm completely flip side. on the prime side we had 41 states with an increase in foreclosures on prime fixed loans. so it's clearly an issue that's being driven much more by the economy rather than issues with the type of loan. >> overall, the foreclosure starts or new foreclosures, which are not included in delinquencies, were flat. but that is likely due to a bi

. >>> i'm diana olick in washington.dent of late but will that sentiment continue, especially with the first time home buyer cash credit expire. we find out next actually one hour. >>> the crackdown on tax evaders at ubs is widening into a global probe. the american government may get 5,000 new names on swiss bank accounts as early as this week. >>> i'm darren ravel, tiger

diana olick has the latest now from washington, d.c. 1%, put that in perspective for us. >> reporter: well, this is really a mixed bag is what it is. that 1% number comprises multi-family and single family. if you want to break it down to the all-important single family went up 1.7%. multi-family, however, fell off a cliff, down 13%. and the reason behind that is commercial lending. it's just totally dried up. they can't get the loans for new buildings and that's what keeping commercial building lower. it is good news, at least, from the builder's perspective of a rise in single family home starts. if you look at it from the total recovery in the housing market, maybe you don't want to build more homes because we have so many homes and 8.8 month supply of new construction already on the market. inventories have been coming down, but we need to see them come down more for a healthy recovery. >> right. and diana, i love this one. reports that 81% of homeowners believe their homes will not lose value over the next year. >> optimistic much? >> or it might have been the next six months. i

. >> i'm diana olick. commercial real estate brokerage activity falls to its lowest level in 15 years, and as vacancies rise and represents fall, a big player in d.c. office defaults, it's just another in a growing line of trouble for commercial real estate and

. >> oh, good, we have diana olick standing by with more color on this. ana, you know, one of the first things that someone said to me when i was talking about being interested in this number is that they want to know about closings not contract sign. this is a contract sign number, right if. >> this is a contract sign number, not closings. the reason it's important on this number is because of that first-time home buyer tax credit. they play a big part in the new home market. they really have to get the contracts signed now to take advantage of that tax credit that expires in november because they get the credit at closing. so, at that point they need to, you know, if the house hasn't been built yet, how many months it's going to take to built to get to closing to get that tax credit. interesting inside the numbers, i want to add month's supply of inventory went down 20.5-month supply 20to 88-month supply. the median price down from $237,300 one year ago in july. of course, prices are down but that is pushing sales up. but what's most important that i see

. >>> i'm diana olick in washington. never been cheaper to buy a new home and unemployment still rising. add those two realities together and it spells bad news for the apartment rental market. a little are offering incentives. one of the biggest rental markets is seeing activity down 60%. >>> i'm darren ravel, saratoga springs, over the next two days $35 million of horses will likely be sold. >> exciting stuff.. we'll get to that in a second.. market action, stocks, rally up 15%, outperformed the dow and s&p 500. roberto pisani kikts it off. >> big gainers, cyclical, transportation, industrial, those are the ones showing weakness today. when you get 4, 5, 6, 7, 8% gains in a few days, you tend to get profit taking. that's what's happening today.. same with retailers. mix same-store sales report generally on the up side last week. 2, 3, 4% decline. same with the home builders. many hit highs for the year. on friday, all of them trading down 3, 4, 5%. one exception, financials a big mover last week. by and large split. fr

but as diana olick has been over. one could say foreclosures could be ramped up as well. so you walk away with the deflationary pressures in the near term, there's still desire s for printing in the long-term. virtually unchanged interest rate complex, a dollar that's virtually unchanged but holding on its gains and many believe that both those markets are doing better because of the uneasiness that's occurring in the equity markets. by contrast, i'm not sure gd spchgdp is the way to measure the economy. but europe is doing better in that regard. the zoo institute had a big jump in german confidence, so all of this is going to handicap the investor as to where his investing dollar ought to be domiciled. back to you. >> all right, rick santelli. that's find out what's going on premarket. we begin our cavalcade of stars with bob pisani. robert. >> futures are up a little bit here as europe and asia have recovered a little bit. and the retail news as you heard, there a little better than expected. home depot is up the estimate, raises their full year guidance but the top lin

. >>> still ahead, minutes away from key data on the housing market, diana olick has on what the holdovers think of the markets and continue to be on our markets minute by minute. >> up next, are there any safe havens you should be buying now? melissa and the gang has ideas for you can the fast money "halftime report" is on deck. we will see you back at the top of the hour. (announcer) illness doesn't care where you live... ...or if you're already sick... ...or if you lose your job. your health insurance shouldn't either. so let's fix health care. if everyone's covered, we can make health care as affordable as possible. and the words "pre-existing condition" become a thing of the past... we're america's health insurance companies. supporting bipartisan reform that congress can build on. others by the car of their dreams. during the lexus golden opportunity sales event, you can do both. special lease offers now available on the 2009 is 250. >>> welcome to the fast money "halftime report," the her the of the ago as it is happening. we have a selloff on our hands, wall street joins a global m

. >>> i'm diana olick in washington. you've heard about it in residential real estate, shingle mail. when troubled brothers mail back the keys to the lenders. now it's happening in commercial real estate, and hotel owners are leading the way. >> and i'm darren rivel. michael gerald vick signs with the eagles and apologize. how much more p.r. does he need to save face? >> let's get the market reaction. the major averages extending losses on the back of the consumer confidence numbers. p and g and walmart among the big winners. bob pisani kibs it off at the new york stock exchange. >> the numbers coming out and even before cyclical stocks that tend to do better or worse, really drop. and there is your weakness today. materials and industrial stocks and all of the classic names are to the down side. caterpillar leading the dow jones industrial weaker here. also, while you did get some decent news out of the retailers, jcpenney, for example, modestly raised the guidance and analysts have already raised the guidance, stoc sto

. >> i'm diana olick. home prices seem to be turning the corner, is it a blip on the radar or a trend? and prices and sales. we'll have all of it coming up in the next hour. >> and with diana talking about one of the key drivers of the market action today, the major averages touching a ten-month high in the back of the consumer confidence data and also the housing data. bob pisani kicks it off. of you've got a triif he can at that of good news, right, bob? >> yes, the markets really hit their highs as we got the combination of the consumer sentiment number, and as well as of course the case-shiller home building numbers. let's take a look at some of the big movers. home building stocks had a grea morning overall. and by and large, they are holding on to their gains, even though the market came off its highs as we got those consumer confidence numbers from the conference board at 10:00 eastern time. home building stocks have held up very well here. i want to also note that the retailers -- the stocks that

>> i'm diana olick in washington. the face of foreclosure is changing from subprime to prime, and still setting records. job losses are getting in the way in a big way. >> and speaking of real estate, we're going to take a look at some of the most expensive cities through certain kinds of questions, like how many minutes do you have to work to afford a big mac in the big apple and what is the price of a three-course meal in tokyo? in the next hour, we look at the most expensive places to live on the planet. first, let's get to the market action, the s&p 500 back above 1,000, as financials lead stocks higher. bob pisani kicks it off at the new york stock exchange. >> it's interesting that a number of big financials are passing important technical signals. let me start with aig. the new ceo said he was going to repayment the government debthe- owes them, $180 billion, folks. good he is reaffirming that, but i think there is more of a technical thing going on this is a short squeeze, not a lot of shares outstanding, i th

joining us now to discuss that greg mcfly, senior financial an looiss and diana olick, cnbc's real estate correspondent extraordinary if. greg, what about it? went, don't buy? >> there's nos right answer for everyone. the shift we're seeing now is the people are moving along way from the notion they had during the housing boom that housing is a get rich quick scheme and that is financial security. the fact is renting works just fine for plenty of people. particularly if you're young in your career and you want the flexibility to pick up and move. renting allow use to do that. the key is having to discipline to save and invest and achieve some of the other financial goals, even without home ownership. i think that's readily attainable but it's going to take some discipline. >> diana? >> i think it all comes down to numbers as everything does, mark. you have to look at affordability and the difference between renting and owning. what is so sbris iinteresting, report that shows the rental gap, how much more does it cost to own a home on a month-to-month basis than it does to rent. that's int

let's go to diana olick for the latest on existing home sales. >> big number, existing home sales rose 7.2% in july to 5.24 million units. annualized, that is the highest pace since august 2007 and sales are up 5% year over year. that's a fourth straight month of sales increases. why? because of lower prices. prices for median and existing homes down to $178,400. inventories in real numbers rose 7.3% to 4.1 million units. that the month supply remains unchanged at 9.4 month supply because of that higher sales pace. breaking it down regionally. up 13.4% in the northeast because, again, of falling prices down 15% there. run troublesome spot. in the west sales fell 1.7%. even though prices there are down year over year, a whopping 28%. now, first-time home buyers were 30% of all buyers in july. 31% of all sales were foreclosure sales. interesting number, 16% of buyers paid cash and normally it's 10% or lower. rick santelli, what do you have to say on that? >> i tell you, it's interesting, diana. looking at that number, of course, listening to the steve in the headlines, the market paid mo

>> i'm diana o olick in washington, will that translate into new holes in the ground? housing starts and permits tomorrow morning at 8:30. >> and finally today, readers digest association publisher of the magazine saying that it may file for chapter 11 bankruptcy for its u.s. business to cut its debt load. >>> on wall street we begin tomorrow's trading session on the downside to the tune of 2% with the dow beginning the day at 9,135, a decline of 186. nasdaq gave up almost 3% and the s&p 500 down 24 points, 2.5%. i'll see you tomorrow on "closing bell," have a great night, everybody, "fast money's" up next. thanks for being with us. good night. >>> get announce the boost on stronger than expected earnings and a bullish outlook from the company.y. >>> steven spielberg completes the funding for the new dreamworks studios and for the first time in a month, gas prices fell last week down a penny to $2.64 a gallon. that's cnbcnews.com news now. "fast money" starts now. >>> is it about to become a cruel, cruel summer on the street? you can't afford to miss this show. welcome