Tag Archives: For-Sale Homes

Despite soaring builder confidence, new housing permits and starts fell in June, with new construction falling to the lowest level in 10 months, the Census Bureau and HUD reported Wednesday. The seasonally adjusted annual rate of new housing permits tumbled 7.5 percent--the largest month-over-month decline since January 2011--while starts fell 9.9 percent, the second-largest drop since February 2011. Builders completed homes at an annual adjusted pace of 755,000 in June, 6.3 percent more than May.

While summer temperatures are now consistently rising into the triple digits in many parts of the country, bidding wars for homes continue to cool, Redfin said in its Real-Time Bidding Wars report for June. Nationally, the percentage of offers written by Redfin agents that faced multiple bids fell for the third straight month to 68.6 percent, down from 69.5 percent in May and 75.7 percent in March. Redfin analyst Ellen Haberle attributed the continued decline to rising mortgage interest rates and an easing in the inventory crunch.

Home prices continue to see significant gains as inventory limits buyers, CoreLogic said in its latest Home Price Index (HPI) report. The index rose 12.2 percent (including distressed sales) year-over-year in May, once again marking the biggest annual increase since 2006. Excluding distressed sales, prices were up 11.6 percent over May 2012. Looking at the top 100 core-based statistical areas (CBSAs) measured by population, 97 showed year-over-year gains in May, CoreLogic reported--up from 94 in April.

According to a survey conducted by the Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta, a huge majority of brokers in the region observed an increase in sales in May, with 40 percent saying numbers were up "slightly" over last year and another 44 percent saying sales were up "significantly." Builders also indicated sales were stronger than last year, with 38 percent reporting slight increases and 33 reporting significant improvements. However, builders noted that sales growth had slowed from April.

April home sales in Connecticut dropped on a yearly basis for the third straight month as prices continued to ascend, the Warren Group reported.

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.

While the current pace of price appreciation may not sustain itself for much longer, Capital Economics maintains a deceleration in price gains does not mean an end to the housing recovery.

Though rising mortgage rates and the current supply and demand situation present short-term difficulties for originators, Deloitte says the long-term picture is rosier.

Zillow expects prices will continue their upward trajectory in the short-run with a 4.1 percent increase over the following 12 months. However, as inventory increases and interest rates rise, "some demand may also ebb," said Stan Humphries, Zillow's chief economist. These predictions prompted the economist to advise, "Enjoy it while it lasts, because the housing market will undoubtedly look very different a few years down the road from how it appears now."

Existing-home sales rose a solid 4.2 percent in May to an annual sales rate of 5.18 million, the highest level since November 2009, the National Association of Realtors (NAR) reported.