Home Sales Slowest in 4 Years
A: Not the best housing report, however, with expectations already so low and everybody anticipating a bad number, the market shrugged it off! Few things to discuss for our national housing marketplace. Mainly, with sales slowing to the lowest level in 4 years inventories had a 5% build. Median sales price of a home dropped for the 10th straight month to $223,700, down 2.1% from a year ago.
Again, no surprises here. Housing across the nation still has issues but we New Yorkers live in a protected environment that has been bullet-proof thus far to the slowdown most other housing marketplaces have been experiencing.
According to Yahoo Finance:
The National Association of Realtors reported Monday that sales of existing single-family homes and condominiums dropped by 0.3 percent to 5.99 million units in May, the slowest sales pace since June of 2003.Stocks rally on the news as existing home sales came in AT expectations. Supply in the marketplace is at its HIGHEST since 1992 with 8.9 months worth of inventory out there.The median price of a home sold last month dropped to $223,700, down 2.1 percent from a year ago. It marked the 10th straight price decline compared with a year ago, the longest stretch of weakness on record.
According to Barron's:
Existing home sales came in right at expectations, at a 5.99 million annual rate in May for the lowest since June 2003 -- offering perhaps the clearest evidence of all of the housing slowdown. The year-on-year decline is steady in low double digits, at 10.3 percent in the latest month. Supply on the market is at its highest since 1992, at 8.9 months and compared with 8.4 months in April. Sooner or later high supply will press down prices, which however remain firm at a median $223,700 for a month-to-month increase of 1.8 percent and only a 2.1 percent decrease year-on-year.Here is a great chart from Barron's showing the decline in existing home sales (bars) and mortgage rates (red line) since January 2003:Financial markets showed little to no reaction to the data which will keep in place expectations for soft results in tomorrow's new home sales report. The housing sector may be finally stabilizing though the increase in supply will be a concern -- especially for Realtors, construction firms and makers and retailers of home products.
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