“For Sale” sign outside homes in Atlanta, Georgia.
Dustin Chambers | Bloomberg | Getty Images
According to the National Association of Real Estate Brokers, sales from January reached 4.2% from January to 4.2 million units, based on a seasonal adjustment, annualized basis. Industry analysts are expected to drop 3%.
Sales fell by 1.2% compared to February last year.
This count is based on closures, so mortgage rates rose and were held briefly within a 30-year fixed 7% range. Today’s prices are in the 6% range.
“Homebuyers are slowly entering the market,” Lawrence Yun, chief economist at NAR, said in a press release. “Mortal rates have not changed much, but more inventory and options are releasing pent-up housing demand.”
In the highest price category, sales are only above $750,000 per year. Median price sales fell 3% year-on-year.
Inventory at the end of February was 1.24 million units, a year-on-year increase of 17%, but the current sales rate is still only 3.5 months of supply. The supply between buyers and sellers is 6 months.
“Our market conditions are still relatively tense,” Yang said.
A tight supply is a pressure on prices. The median price of homes for sale in February was $398,400, up 3.8% from the same period last year. This is a record in February. Prices rose in all four geographical regions of the country.
First-time home buyers are back in the market, accounting for 31% of sales in February, compared with 26% the previous year. However, investors retreated, accounting for only 16% of sales, down from 21% last year.
However, all-cash sales remained relatively stable, accounting for 32% of sales, a slight decrease from the previous year. Cash is often favored by investors, so given the decline in investor sales, this indicates that more and more owners are using cash.
Although these sales were higher than expected, they were more indicative of the market than they are now. John Burns Research and Consulting conducted another survey of real estate agents and found that more than half of respondents indicated that the resale market was weaker than normal this spring. The resale index fell for the first time in four months.
“Current sales ratings are still weak, with 53% of agents reporting weaker than normal sales. This is better than 56% a year ago, but lower than 47% in January. The limitations of affordability and economic uncertainty have kept many buyers in the spotlight.”
