Existing home sales started the year off strong, with the Midwest leading a monthly gain. But a constrained supply of homes for sale doesn’t bode well for the market.
Completed sales of
single-family homes, townhomes, condominiums and co-operatives finished the first month of this year at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 5.47 million.
It turns out that last month was the best month for existing home sales since July of last year, when the seasonally adjusted annual rate came in at
at a revised 5.48 million.
That is according to the National Association of Realtors, which released the latest data Tuesday.
In December 2015, the annual rate was a downwardly revised 5.45 million, while it came in at an upwardly revised rate of 4.93 million in January 2015.
In the Midwest, the seasonally adjusted annual rate was 1.30 million, up 4 percent from December 2015 — the biggest increase of any region.
Sales were up 3 percent in the Northeast to an annual rate of 0.76 million, while the South was flat at a rate of 2.24 million.
The only region to suffer a decline was the West, where sales fell 4 percent to a rate of 1.17 million.
Without any seasonal adjustments, U.S. sales sank 31 percent between December 2015 and January 2016 to 302,000 units.
As of Jan. 31, 2016, there were 1.82 million homes for sale, up 3 percent from the previous month but off 2 percent from the year-earlier month.
It took 64 days to sell a property in January 2016, putting the housing supply at 4.0 months.
Last month’s median sales price was $213,800, up 8 percent on a year-over-year basis.
“The housing market has shown promising resilience in recent months, but home prices are still rising too fast because of ongoing supply constraints,” NAR Chief Economist Lawrence Yun stated in the report. “Despite the global economic slowdown, the housing sector continues to recover and will likely help the U.S. economy avoid a recession.”
Median prices in the Midwest were up nearly 9 percent from a year earlier — more than any other region. The Northeast saw a less than 1 percent increase — the smallest gain.
The average U.S. sales price inched up 1 percent from January 2015 to $257,500.
First-time buyer share was 32 percent last month,
while all-cash sales made up 26 percent of total activity and distressed sales share was 9 percent.
