Economic News in Review Greenville SC
Here is last week’s Economic News in Review Greenville SC.
While last week’s calendar of economic releases was light, real estate enjoyed some good news both in terms of existing and new home sales.
Existing Home Sales
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.
“Current price data suggests a trend of slower growth, which bodes well for preserving favorable affordability conditions in much of the country,” Yun said.
New Home Sales
Transactions of new real estate enjoyed similar gains with, sales of new single-family home hitting annual rate of 433,000, which marked a 6.4 percent gain over the March rate of 407,000, according to last week’s report from Census Bureau and the Department of Housing and Urban Development.
Looking at price the median sales value of new homes sold in April was $275,800; the average sales price was $320,100. Where volume was concerned, the estimated number of new homes for sale at the end of April was 192,000, which represented a 5.3-month supply of homes at April’s sales rate.
Still, home sales have a way to go. On an annual basis, April’s sales were still 4.2 percent lower than April 2013’s estimated rate of 452,000. This is because Americans are facing financial challenges, which means housing will recover as they do, and so far that is happening somewhat slowly.
“I am cautiously optimistic,” IHS Global Insight economist Stephanie Karol told the Los Angeles Times. “I do expect things to get better.
“The driver here on out is going to be job growth and income growth,” she added.
Employment
In other news, initial jobless claims saw a slight increase, but the overall number of unemployed Americans using unemployment insurance was down. The number of newly unemployed people filing first-time claims for unemployment benefits during the week ending May 17 hit 326,000, the Employment and Training Administration reported last week. This was an increase of 28,000 claims from the previous week's revised level of 298,000 claims.
That said, the four-week moving average — usually considered a more accurate gauge of near-term employment activity — notched down to 322,500, a decline of 1,000 from the prior week's revised average of 323,500. Contrary to economists' predictions that claims would hit 320,000, last week's total turned out to be the lowest level for initial claims since May 12, 2007.
Looking at the population of insured unemployed workers, the number of unemployed Americans covered by unemployment benefits during the week ending May 10 declined to 2,653,000, a drop of 13,000 people from the previous week's revised level. This marked the lowest count of insured unemployed workers since Dec. 1, 2007 when it was 2,639,000 people.
Looking at the four-week moving average, which is considered a more reliable measure of near-term employment activity, the average fell to 323,250, a decline of 2,000 from the previous week's revised average of 325,250.
This week, we can expect:
- Tuesday — Durable goods orders for April from the Census Bureau; Consumer confidence for May from The Conference Board.
- Thursday — Initial jobless claims for last week from the Employment and Training Administration; second estimate GDP for the first quarter form the Bureau of Economic Analysis.
- Friday — Personal incomes and spending for May from the Bureau of Economic Analysis; Consumer sentiment for May from the University of Michigan and Thomson-Reuters Survey of Consumers.
Economic News in Review Greenville SC
Have a Big day,
Randy
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