Real estate watchers breathed a sigh of relief as sales of existing single-family homes, townhomes, condominiums and co-ops saw their first gain this year, as well as meaningful increases in inventory, according to last week’s report from the National Association of Realtors. Total sales of existing homes rose 1.3 percent in April to an annual rate of 4.65 million from 4.59 million in March. That said, they were still 6.8 percent below the 4.99 million-unit pace in April 2013. Ultimately, the growth had to do with pent up demand finally giving away as inventory increased, said Lawrence Yun, NAR’s chief economist. “Some growth was inevitable after sub-par housing activity in the first quarter, but improved inventory is expanding choices and sales should generally trend upward from this point,” Yun Explained. “Annual home sales, however, due to a sluggish first quarter, will likely be lower than last year.” Housing inventory at the end of April saw a considerable 16.8 percent gain to 2.29 million existing homes available for sale, constituting a 5.9-month supply at April’s sales pace. Unsold inventory is 6.5 percent higher than a year ago, when there was a 5.2-month supply. That said, prices were still up, but not as much with April’s median price for existing homes of all types ringing in at $201,700, which was 5.2 percent above April 2013. By comparison, the first quarter’s median price was 8.6 percent higher than the same period last year.
Posted on: Tue, 27 May 2014 20:40:14 +0000
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