[1]Existing-home sales [2]blew the mortgage industry away last week, with the largest month-over-month increase ever as TILA-RESPA Integrated Disclosure (TRID) rule delays finally started to pass. Now, the mortgage industry is anticipating what news the new home sales report will bring this week.
The National Association of Realtors [3] (NAR) reported Friday that existing-home sales rose 14.7 percent [4]to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 5.46 million in December, up from 4.46 million in November. Year-over-year, existing-home sales are up 7.7 percent, and December's jump will mark the largest increase ever.
On Wednesday, January 27, 2015 at 10:00 a.m. (ET), the spotlight will shift to December's new home sales, released by the U.S. Census Bureau and HUD [5]. Will they be as positive as the existing-home sales report?
In November, new home sales rose 4.3 percent to 490,000 units on a seasonally-adjusted annual basis, up 9.1 percent from year ago levels, the U.S. Census Bureau and HUD reported.
"New home sales are likely to continue their modest rise into 2016 as economic signals remain positive. However, sales and inventory of existing homes need to advance in order to release current home owners to buy a new home. Without this elementary feed to housing demand, the market cannot advance significantly," Crowe said.
Also this week...
Now that the Federal Reserve [6] has increased the short-term interest rate for the first time in nearly a decade, the question on everyone’s mind is: When will the next rate increase occur?
The world will find out at 2 p.m. Eastern on Wednesday, January 27, when the Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) makes its announcement following its two-day meeting—its first of 2016 and first since last month’s historic rate increase.
Tuesday, January 26
Federal Housing Finance Agency Home Price Index Report- 9:00 a.m. (ET) [7]
S&P Case-Shiller Home Price Index Report- 9:00 a.m. (ET) [8]
Thursday, January 28
National Association of Realtors Pending Home Sales Index- 10:00 a.m. (ET) [9]