The National Association of Realtors reported that existing home sales surged last month, up 12.3 percent from an annual rate of 4.7 million in November to 5.28 million in December.
Rising mortgage rates that have spurred some fence-sitters to take action and seasonal factors during what is a slow time of the year are surely involved in the sales gain that ranks as the biggest sales month since the housing bubble burst, excluding months that were unduly influenced by the 2009-2010 homebuyer tax credit.
Distressed sales accounted for 36 percent of all sales, up from 33 percent in November, and the months of supply metric again fell sharply, from 9.5 months to just 8.1 months.
The median sales price was $168,000, down one percent from a year ago, and this is likely to go lower in the months ahead as distressed property sales make up a larger portion of sales during the quiet winter months.
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Isn’t that because all homes for sale are now “existing” homes? There is virtually no “new home” construction going on these days. It would be interesting to see what the total sales numbers look like.
Also, there is going to be one last rush to buy as those seeking “investment properties” jump in and catch falling knives by buying rental properties that cannot be rented at today’s rental rates. Many will wind up sitting vacant as the unemployed are forced to double up.
Yes, good point, new home sales are near record lows, so the total new/existing home sales total would be a better indication of overall demand.
[...] in real estate, although it feels more like a “bankers market” from where I sit. In fact, home sales have reached a 6 month high. This is partly due to historically low interest rates, [...]