Tag Archives: Existing Home Sales

Sales of new single-family homes rose 18 percent year-over-year in June with a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 482,000 compared to June 2014's pace of 408,000, according to the survey.

"May and June existing home sales have both been very encouraging for anyone looking for proof that the housing market is in recovery, and our July Nowcast indicates that this positive momentum will continue into July," Auction.com EVP Rick Sharga said.

Total housing inventory increased by 3.2 percent to 2.29 million existing homes available for sale at the end of May, and is 1.8 percent higher than the 2.25 million homes for sale a year ago, the report says. Meanwhile, unsold inventory dropped down to a 5.1-month supply at the current sales pace for May, down from 5.2 months in April.

Yesterday, the National Association of Realtors (NAR) reported that existing-home sales were at 5.04 million units, a 3.3 percent decrease from March, though up 6.1 percent from a year ago. Both, Auction.com and Consensus estimates were off for April because they predicted a stronger performance based on data released in March.

Sharga also noted that while the 5.31 million target number for April is up both month-over-month and year-over-year, a truly healthy housing market would be on a pace for about six million in existing home sales annually. He said the annual rate of existing home sales will probably continue at about the five million range for the next year.

March's Real Estate Nowcast predicted that existing home sales for March would fall between 4.83 and 5.12 million on a seasonally adjusted annualized basis. The target number for existing home sales of 4.97 million is an increase of 1.9 percent month-over-month and 5.8 percent from March 2014.

The NAR’s latest look at existing-home sales shows that while sales nationally were 3.2 percent higher this January than last, single-family transactions were down almost 5 percent to 4.82 million. This is the lowest since last April’s 4.75 million.

In its latest look at resale data, NAR reported that the stock of available existing homes for sale was around 1.85 million in December, putting the national supply at 4.4 months at the current sales rate. Also challenging the housing market right now are stringent credit conditions, stagnant wages, and "lingering wariness about homeownership benefits," said Auction.com's chief economist, Peter Muoio.

While housing recovery has generally been uneven for the last few years, the housing market experienced substantial growth in the fourth quarter of 2014 for all five indicators of Trulia's Q4 2014 Housing Barometer, which was released on Thursday. Three of the five indicators – existing home sales, excluding distressed sales; home price level; and delinquency plus foreclosure rate – are all more than three-quarters of the way "back to normal" as of the end of 2014, according to the barometer.

A new forecast of existing-home sales for the month of December has projected activity rising but still finishing the year on a low note after a weaker than expected November. In its latest Nowcast projections, online real estate auction company Auction.com calls for pre-owned home sales to fall between seasonally adjusted annual rates of 4.79 and 5.18 million for December, with a targeted number of 4.98 million.