| Existing Home Sales | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Highlights
Lack of homes for sale, especially at the low end, are holding down sales of existing homes which are down 1.0 percent in the December report to an annual rate of 4.94 million which is a bit below Econoday's consensus. Supply is severely constrained at 4.4 months at the current sales rate vs 4.8 months in November and compared to 6.4 months in December 2011. Low supply may be bad for sales but it's good for prices which rose 0.8 percent in the month to a median $180,800. The year-on-year gain in the median price, at 11.5 percent in December, trended in the low double digits through the fourth quarter. Details show a dip for single-family home sales in the latest month that was only offset slightly by a gain for condos. Total sales show regional declines in the Midwest and South and show gains for the West and Northeast. This year is expected to be a good one for the residential sector with rising home prices generally expected to be a big plus for the consumer. Though the pace of sales did dip back in December, the trend is still pointing up with sales moving steadily and convincingly higher from the 4.37 million rate back in June. The Dow is moving lower following today's report. Tomorrow housing data will lead off with mortgage purchase applications, which have been very bumpy, and will be followed by FHFA price data where a big gain is expected. Data on new home sales, which have been slowly but steadily building momentum, will be posted on Friday. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Market Consensus before announcement
Existing home sales surged 5.9 percent in November to a 5.04 million annual rate and followed a 1.5 percent rise in October. Existing home sales were up 14.5 percent on a year ago basis, compared to 10.2 percent in October. Hurricane Sandy seems to have had no significant effect on sales where in the Northeast they surged 6.9 percent following a modest decline in October. Sales in the other three regions all showed gains for both November and October as well. Supply fell sharply, to 4.8 months at the current sales rate from 5.3 months in October which was already a multi-year low. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Definition Existing home sales tally the number of previously constructed homes, condominium and co-ops in which a sale closed during the month. Existing homes (also known as home resales) account for a larger share of the market than new homes and indicate housing market trends. (National Association of Realtors) Why Investors Care | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
No comments:
Post a Comment