U.S. Existing-Home Sales Rebounded in September
20 Ottobre 2016 - 4:50PM
Dow Jones News
WASHINGTON--Home-buying activity picked up in September
following a two-month slide, a rebound that pointed to
stabilization in the U.S. housing market.
Sales of previously owned homes rose 3.2% from August to a
seasonally adjusted annual rate of 5.47 million, the National
Association of Realtors said Thursday. Economists surveyed by The
Wall Street Journal had expected a more modest 0.4% increase to a
sales rate of 5.35 million in September.
Existing-home sales account for the vast majority of U.S.
home-buying activity. After peaking in June at an annual rate of
5.57 million, the strongest monthly sales pace since February 2007,
sales softened in July and August. The August sales pace on
Thursday was revised down to 5.30 million from an earlier estimate
of 5.33 million.
September's sales rebound showed the summer slowdown was a
"moderate decline and not a turning point," said Lawrence Yun, the
NAR's chief economist.
Sales of previously owned homes in September were up 0.6% from a
year earlier.
Inventory remained tight and prices continued to rise. At the
latest sales pace, it would take 4.5 months to exhaust the supply
of previously owned homes on the market, down from 4.8 months in
September 2015. The median price of an existing home sold in
September was $234,200, up 5.6% on the year.
First-time home buyers accounted for 34% of September sales,
according to NAR, up from 31% in August and matching the highest
level since July 2012. At the same time, foreclosures and short
sales are in retreat--just 4% of September purchases were so-called
distressed sales, edging down from 5% the prior month.
News Corp, owner of The Wall Street Journal, also operates
Realtor.com under license from the National Association of
Realtors.
The U.S. housing market's prolonged recovery following the
2007-09 recession was a solid contributor to overall economic
growth in recent years. But a pullback in residential investment
during the second quarter, following eight consecutive quarters of
growth, acted as a drag on the broader economy.
Federal Reserve officials last month judged that "the
sluggishness in the housing sector appeared to have continued into
the third quarter," according to minutes of the Fed's Sept. 20-21
policy meeting that were released last week.
Recent data have suggested weakness in construction of apartment
buildings and other multifamily structures, balanced by rising
investment in single-family housing. Permits issued for buildings
with five or more residential units were down 11.6% in the first
nine months of 2016 versus a year earlier, while permits for new
single-family homes were up 8.1% over the same period, the Commerce
Department said Wednesday.
Sales of newly built single-family homes, which account for a
small slice of the overall market, rose 13.3% in the first eight
months of the year compared with the same period in 2015, according
to the agency.
Borrowing costs remain low for prospective home buyers who
qualify for loans. The average interest rate on a 30-year
fixed-rate mortgage in September was 3.46%, up slightly from 3.44%
the prior two months but well below the September 2015 average of
3.89%, according to Freddie Mac.
Write to Ben Leubsdorf at ben.leubsdorf@wsj.com and Jeffrey
Sparshott at jeffrey.sparshott@wsj.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
October 20, 2016 10:35 ET (14:35 GMT)
Copyright (c) 2016 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.
Grafico Azioni News (NASDAQ:NWS)
Storico
Da Ago 2024 a Set 2024
Grafico Azioni News (NASDAQ:NWS)
Storico
Da Set 2023 a Set 2024