[1]Homes sales finished strong in 2015, following two straight months of sluggish sales, according to the latest National Housing Report [2] issued by RE/MAX [3].
Tuesday’s report found that home sales in December were 22.5 percent higher than in November and 6.1 percent higher than a year earlier. Forty-three of 53 metro areas surveyed reported higher sales on a year-over-year basis, with 14 experiencing double-digit increases.
Boise topped the list with a 23.8 percent uptick in home sales, followed closely by Manchester, New Hampshire, which reported a 22.9 percent increase. Las Vegas, Nevada; Albuquerque, New Mexico; St. Louis, Missouri; and Portland, Oregon rounded out those metros with double digit upticks.
These end-of-year totals jibe well with an overall strong year for home sales. According to RE/MAX, 2015 featured nine months in which home sales finished higher than the same month one year earlier.
[4]Source: RE/MAX
December also continued a trend towards moderating home prices, with a year-over year gain of 5.3 percent nationally. The 2015 overall average was 7.6 percent. Des Moines, Iowa led the way among metros boasting solid median price increases. The city reported a 19.7 percent rise in median prices, with Fargo, North Dakota following close behind with a 19.3 percent rise. Nashville, Tennessee; San Francisco, California; Orlando, Florida; and Omaha, Nebraska also posted double digit increases in median sale prices in December.
The median price of all homes sold in December was $206,000 nationally.
Sales finished strong despite (or perhaps because of) an increasingly tight inventory across the country. According to RE/MAX, the inventory of homes for sale in many metros finished 14.2 percent lower than December 2014. Also, at the rate of home sales in December, the firm’s national Months Supply of Inventory index was 4.9, down from 5.7 one year ago.
Numerous industry insiders have chalked up flagging sales in October and November to new TRID regulations RE/MAX CEO Dave Liniger joined this chorus, saying that TRID implementation “caused November transactions to dip lower than normal.” However, Liniger was surprised and delighted by December’s rebound.
“It’s nice to see the year end on an upbeat note,” he said. “Overall, 2015 goes into the record books as a very good year for residential real estate.”
Bob Walters, chief economist at Quicken Loans [5], said that the market could benefit from homeowners taking advantage of the equity they are building, and make their homes available to the many eager buyers. “This could give buyers a chance to find the home they have been waiting for,” he said.