Tag Archives: For-Sale Homes

After observing a slowdown in sales throughout June--typically the peak selling month for the year--online brokerage Redfin reported a rebound in July, though other market indicators continue to cool. According to Redfin's data, "this July saw a healthy jump in homes sold throughout most of the 19 markets covered in this report," improving 3 percent month-over-month and 17.6 percent year-over-year from a rather disappointing July 2012. At the same time, reports on home price growth and inventory were less positive in July.

The seasonally adjusted annual rate of new home sales dropped a stunning 13.4 percent to 394,000 in July. Economists surveyed by Bloomberg expected June sales to drop to 487,000 from June's originally reported 497,000. June sales were revised to 455,000. The report for July showed a slight shift to higher-priced homes as houses priced at $500,000 or more accounted for 11 percent of July sales, up from 9 percent in June. Homes priced at $300,000 or less represented 62 percent of all July sales, down from 64 percent in June.

The housing market experienced another downshift in July, with the number of homes under contract within two weeks falling to under 30 percent.

Existing-home sales soared 6.5 percent in July to an annual sales rate of 5.39 million--the highest level since November 2009--as the price of a single-family home slipped 0.2 percent.

While inventory was down in July compared to last year and the prior month, the decreases were more conservative, which means home price gains should slow, according to RE/MAX's most recent housing survey. July inventory was 1.3 percent below the level in June and 20.7 percent lower compared to a year ago. However, inventory expanded month-over-month in 18 of the metros tracked. News for home sales was also positive, with closed transactions climbing 17 percent year-over-year and inching up 1.5 percent month-over-month.

A July monthly property intelligence report (PIR) conducted by Dataquick, a provider of real estate information solutions, reveals a monthly and annual rise in home prices for every single participating U.S. county out of the 42 evaluated. In fact, home prices have hiked an average of over 13 percent versus this time last year. Per DataQuick's data, this rise in price has been directly linked to fewer foreclosures, limited property availability, and an overall decline in transactions.

The National Association of Home Builders' (NAHB) Housing Market Index (HMI)--a measure of builder confidence--increased again in August, climbing three points to 59, its highest reading since November 2005, the group reported Thursday. The index has improved 15 points (34 percent) in the last three months. Economists had expected the August index to slip to 56 from July's originally reported 57. The strong August numbers--following the strong June and July reading--gave further evidence to a recovery in the housing sector.

Home inventories continue to decline in many markets across the country, but the pace of those declines appears to be slowing, which may in turn slow price appreciation in some markets, according to Realtor.com. National housing inventory declined 5.24 percent year-over-year in July, which is a slowdown from the 16.47 percent year-over-year decline reported in January. At the same time, the number of markets with declining inventory year-over-year decreased to 118 in July.

Realtor.com released its list of the second quarter's top "turnaround towns" in terms of market recovery, and California once again dominated the list. More notable, however, was the presence of Detroit, which--despite its recent bankruptcy--showed a strong performance. In fact, Detroit may soon be "one of the most balanced markets in the nation," according to Steve Berkowitz, CEO of Move, an online real estate network. The Motor City claimed the No. 7 spot after its inventory age fell to 45 days.

The national median home price showed its strongest year-over-year gain in more than seven years last quarter, according to the latest quarterly report from the National Association of Realtors (NAR). NAR's data shows the median price of an existing single-family home increased 12.2 percent year-over-year to $203,500--the largest improvement since Q4 2005. Prices were boosted by shrinking market share of lower-priced homes and distressed sales (which accounted for 17 percent of last quarter's sales).