Total existing-home sales including single-family, townhomes, condominiums and co-ops – rose 0.3 percent to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 6.92 million units in March from a pace of 6.90 million in February, but were 0.7 percent below a 6.97 million-unit level in March 2005.Did the NAR mention in their press release that the national inventory has increased 39% Year Over Year? Definitely not. That was left to the bubble bloggers.
Total housing inventory levels rose 7.0 percent at the end of March to 3.19 million existing homes available for sale, which represents a 5.5-month supply at the current sales pace.
The national median existing-home price for all housing types was $218,000 in March, up 7.4 percent from March 2005 when the median was $203,000
Single-family home sales rose 0.3 percent to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 6.07 million in March from 6.05 million in February, and were 0.5 percent below the 6.10 million-unit pace in March 2005. The median existing single-family home price was $217,300 in March, up 7.8 percent from a year ago.
Existing condominium and cooperative housing sales increased 0.2 percent to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 854,000 units in March from a level of 852,000 in February, but were 2.0 percent below the 871,000-unit pace a year ago. The median existing condo price was $225,500 in March, up 6.1 percent from March 2005.
For more information check out:
Calculated Risk: Existing Home Sales (Lovely graphs)
Housing Bubble Blog: Inventory Of Unsold Homes Hits New Record High
Bubble Track: Existing Home Sales Data and NAR Home Supply Graphs
David Lereah the chief economist (paid shill) for NAR had this to say "It'’s a good sign to see home sales holding close to the level of a strong rebound in the month before," he said. "“This is additional evidence that we're experiencing a soft landing. We may see some minor slowing in home sales as interest rates rise, but the market clearly is stabilizing"
David 'Soft Landing' Lereah must be salivating that these March numbers can be spinned to support the soft landing position.
Posts
I believe, besides the national data, the regional data are very interesting. The sales increased in NE and MW but the south and West saw solid declines. This is very much in line with the price increases we had heard about for those regions.
ReplyDeleteThis might indicate how the much-wished-for "soft landing" may actually unfold over the next couple of years. First will go the west and south (specifically Florida) and then we will see some softening in NE and MW.