QUOTE OF THE WEEK... "I've had a lot of worries in my life, most of which never happened."--Mark Twain, American author and humorist
INFO THAT HITS US WHERE WE LIVE... A big worry for some is that the housing recovery will collapse and people of that persuasion felt they got some support last week.New Home Sales were off 8.1% in June to a 406,000 annual rate. However, the median price of new homes sold in June was $273,500, 5.3% higher than a year ago and the average price was 8.3% higher. We are not back in a housing recession. Home building has stayed in an upward trend and new home sales have hovered in the same range for two years. Also, the New Home Sales report is for single-family homes, so the slight shift to multi-family condos and town homes isn't reflected in the data.
June Existing Home Sales fared much better, up 2.6% for the month, to an annual rate just over 5 million units. These sales had slid for eight months but are now up for the last three. Of course, one of the problems was inventory, but that's now up 6.5% versus a year ago. The FHFA price index for homes financed with conforming mortgages was up 0.4% in May and is up 5.5% over a year ago. While price gains have slowed recently, they're still trending higher, with 26 months in a row of year-over-year increases nationally. U.S. home prices are now just 12% below their 2006 peak.
BUSINESS TIP OF THE WEEK... The key to prospecting is consistency. Whether you like to prospect with blogs and social posts, emails, direct mail, or cold calling, you need to do it as part of your daily routine, no matter what.
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Kristen Zorda |
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