Tag Archives: Existing-Home Sales

With the federal government shutdown and debt ceiling negotiations still fresh in the nation's collective mind, Fannie Mae expects "continued market volatility" heading into the start of 2014.

Speaking at the 2013 Realtors Conference & Expo Friday, National Association of Realtors (NAR) chief economist Lawrence Yun predicted steadiness in existing-home sales over the next year as prices continue to ascend. Looking over the past year, Yun said he expects existing-home sales to be up about 10 percent in 2013 to 5.13 million. Sales in 2014 are expected to hold fairly even at about 5.12 million. Reviewing price movements, he said the median existing-home price should end 2013 about 11 percent higher than 2012.

Investors remain a crucial factor in the U.S. housing market. As mortgage rates rise along with home prices, it decreases affordability and edges owner-occupier buyers out of the market.

On a monthly basis, home prices rose 0.6 percent in August, according to FNC's Residential Price index (RPI), a measure of price changes in the country's 100 large metropolitan areas. On a yearly basis, the increase is 5.3 percent. The monthly gain in August was smaller than the gains accrued over the two previous months--a sign that the recovery remains uneven across the nation, FNC says. With seasonal trends usually putting a drag on housing measures, the deceleration can be expected to go on.

Existing-home sales rose an unexpected 6.5 percent to an annual sales rate of 5.48 million, the National Association of Realtors (NAR) reported Thursday. Economists surveyed by Bloomberg expected existing home sales to drop to 5.255 million from July's originally reported July's 5.39 million sales pace which was unchanged in today's report. The increase in sales came as the median price of an existing single family home in August dipped slightly from July, down $300 to $212,100.

The National Association of Home Builders' (NAHB) Housing Market Index (HMI) stalled at 58 in September, unchanged from August's downwardly revised reading, the group reported.

Continuing to shrug off sequester cutbacks, but feeling the effects of adverse weather, the nation's economy "continued to expand at a modest to moderate pace" from early July though late August, the Federal Reserve reported in its Beige Book assessment. Residential real estate activity "increased moderately" and "demand for nonresidential real estate increased," though "lending activity weakened a bit." Lending standards have largely remained unchanged, while credit quality has improved.

Existing-home sales fell 1.2 percent in June to an annual sales rate of 5.08 million as the price of a single-family home rose 13.5 percent from a year earlier--the strongest year-over-year gain since November 2005, the National Association of Realtors (NAR) reported Monday. The drop in sales came despite an increase in April in NAR├â┬ó├óÔÇÜ┬¼├óÔÇ×┬ós Pending Home Sales Index, which tracks contracts for existing single-family homes. The index rose in April to 105.7 from 104.1 in March and fell in May.

The price of a new single-family home dropped 3.2 percent in May, but sales increased 2.1 percent to 476,000, the highest level in almost five years.

Home prices posted their strongest monthly gain on record in April, increasing more than 2.5 percent, according to the Case-Shiller Home Price Indices released Tuesday. Overall, the 10-city index rose to 165.63, its highest level since November 2008, while the 20-city index improved to 152.37, also the highest level since November 2008. Of the 20 cities surveyed, Detroit was the only area not to show an increase in April. The April index of Detroit home prices read 81.28, barely down from 81.30 reported in April.