INFO THAT HITS US WHERE WE LIVE & BEYOND FOR THE WEEK ON DECEMBER 28TH..
Some might think darkness fell on existing home sales in November. The National Association of Realtors (NAR) reported Existing Home Sales dropped 10.5% last month, which translates to a 4.76 million unit annual rate, the lowest we've seen since April 2014.
But hold on. New federal TRID regulations went into effect in October and as a result, the average time to close a loan grew to 49 days in November, which we reported last week.
Clearly, many sales that would have happened last month will now occur in this one. Expect an existing home sales spike in December and a return to trend in the first few months of the new year.
Existing home inventory decreased 3.3% in November and now stands 1.9% below its level a year ago. But more sellers may trod onto the market, as the median home price is 6.3% higher than November a year ago, posting its 45th straight month of annual increases.
New Home Sales did well, up 4.3% in November, to a 490,000 annual rate and up 9.1% versus a year ago.
Here, the median price held steady, up just 0.8% over a year ago. Also doing well are purchase mortgage applications, reported by the Mortgage Bankers Association to be up 4% from the week earlier.
The FHFA index of prices for all homes financed with conforming mortgages is up 6.1% over a year ago.
BUSINESS TIP OF THE WEEK... An excellent New Year's Resolution is to commit to doing something in business you've never done before. Exceptional growth often comes from tackling new challenges.
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