U.S. Existing Home Sales Rebound To Eleven-Month High In February
March 22 2019 - 6:21AM
RTTF2
After reporting existing home sales at their lowest level in
over three years in the previous month, the National Association of
Realtors released a report on Friday showing a substantial rebound
in existing home sales in the month of February.
NAR said existing home sales soared by 11.8 percent to an annual
rate of 5.51 million in February after slumping by 1.4 percent to a
revised rate of 4.93 million in January.
Economists had expected existing home sales to surge up by 3.2
percent to a rate of 5.10 million from the 4.94 million originally
reported for the previous month.
With the much bigger than expected increase, existing home sales
reached their highest level since hitting a matching rate last
March.
"A powerful combination of lower mortgage rates, more inventory,
rising income and higher consumer confidence is driving the sales
rebound," said NAR chief economist Lawrence Yun.
The report said the median existing-home price in February was
$249,500, up 0.1 percent from $249,300 in January and up 3.6
percent from $240,800 in the same month a year ago.
Total housing inventory at the end of February increased to 1.63
million existing homes available for sale, representing 3.5 months
of supply at the current sales pace.
"It is very welcoming to see more inventory showing up in the
market," said Yun. "Consumer foot traffic consequently is rising as
measured by the opening rate of SentriLock key boxes."
SentriLock data, for key access to unlock a home, was measurably
higher in January and February compared to the second half of last
year.
NAR said single-family existing home sales spiked by 13.3
percent to an annual rate of 4.94 million in February, while
existing condominium and co-op sales were unchanged at a rate of
570,000 units.
Next Friday, the Commerce Department is scheduled to release a
separate report on new home sales in the month of February.
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