YUKON REAL ESTATE MARKET REPORT SEPTEMBER 2016

INFO THAT HITS US WHERE WE LIVE ... Those aiming for perfection in the housing recovery would agree it is indeed quite elusive. Last week's reports proved to be anything but perfect. New Home Sales were down 7.6% in August, to a 609,000 annual rate. But let's remember, home sales data are extremely volatile month to month and they shot up in July to their fastest rate since 2007. In August, that pace remained relatively strong. If you take out July's numbers, August posted the fastest sales pace since 2008, ending UP 20.6% compared to a year ago. And the bulk of those sales were for homes that have yet to break ground, so demand is clearly ahead of supply.

Note that the New Home Sales report is for single-family homes. Multi-family deals (condos, co-ops) aren't counted. Pending Home Sales, an index of contracts signed on existing homes dipped 2.4% in August following a 1.2% gain in July. Media naysayers jumped on the pending home sales declines in three of the past four months, and warned of an impending stall in the housing recovery. Yet the National Association of Realtors projects existing home sales will hit 5.36 million in 2016, up 2.1% from 2015 and the highest annual pace since 2006. Though not perfect, the housing recovery remains one of the few bright spots in the otherwise lethargic U.S. economy.