Early January indicators suggest the housing market got off to a strong start in 2015, with inventory growth and increased demand driving growth in what's usually a chilly month for the sector. Looking at home sales data recorded nationwide throughout the month's first three weeks, national brokerage Redfin estimates that the median home price for this month is $266,400.
While that marks a small decline from December, it's a much smaller drop than those recorded in the last few Januarys, and it's still higher than a year ago by 7.6 percent. What's different this January is that both supply and demand are in much better shape than they were a year ago, Redfin said.
After sliding for four straight months, the share of purchase loan volumes ticked up in December, according to a survey released Monday. Calculating from a sampling of mortgage applications initiated on its Encompass platform, technology provider Ellie Mae estimated this week that home purchase mortgages accounted for 56 percent of lending activity last month, up from 54 percent in November. Before December, purchase mortgage share had been on the decline as falling interest rates spurred more refinancing activity.