Tag Archives: Home Sales

Home sales fell in July, but still managed to hover over last July's levels and reach new heights not seen since 2008, according to the RE/MAX July 2015 National Housing Report released Tuesday.

Although home sales in the U.S. have reached their highest peak since 2007 during the first four months of 2015, foreign homebuyers are not adding to these growing sales. According to a blog by Frank Nothaft, CoreLogic’s chief economist, in relation to the same period one year ago, home sales jumped 9 percent with the help of lower fixed mortgage rates by one-half percentage point, but foreign buyers did not help with this increase.

Home sales in May were greater than in any other May since 2008, while home prices continued to rise, according to the RE/MAX National Housing Report. Sales are on a four-month trend in which they were higher than both the previous month and the same month in the previous year.

The April 2015 RE/MAX National Housing Report that surveyed 53 metro areas, revealed that home sales were up by 7 percent from the previous month and 6.5 percent above the mark set in April 2014. Home sales in April were higher than any other April since the report began in 2008.

Compared to a year ago, the overall pace of sales nationally has sped up. Last spring, about 62 percent of all homes Trulia track nationwide were still on the market at the 60-day mark. Wednesday’s report showed that number is now down to 60 percent.

Since the beginning of 2013, cash purchases have comprised a steadily eroding share of the market en route to pre-crash averages. Prior to 2008, cash sales on average made up a quarter of the sale market nationally. Cash sales reached their peak during the worst of the recession, topping out at 46.5 percent in January 2011.

Despite a brutal winter and a slowdown in economic activity in the first quarter, Freddie Mac is sticking to its previous prediction that 2015 will be the best year for home sales since 2007, according to Freddie Mac's U.S. Economic and Housing Report for April 2015 released Thursday.

The temporary factors that slowed economic growth include a drawdown in inventory, unusually high snowfall in some parts of the country, and the West Coast port slowdown. Fannie Mae expects the reducing of those factors in the second quarter combined with upbeat labor market conditions and positive consumer and business fundamentals to push GDP growth to 2.8 percent in 2015, ahead of 2014's pace of 2.4 percent.

Residential real estate activity increased moderately in the Richmond district. Realtors in Virginia and North Carolina reported increased sales, especially for higher end homes in North Carolina. Home sales increased in the St. Louis district on a year-over-year basis. Compared with the same period in 2013, December 2014 monthly home sales were up 5 percent in Louisville, 11 percent in Little Rock, and 29 percent in St. Louis.

NAR Chief Economist Lawrence Yun said traditional buyers saw more favorable conditions entering the market this year, citing all-cash sales and sales to investors were both down from a year ago, which created less competition and relief for buyers who still face the challenge of seeing limited homes available for sale.