Home » Business » Real Estate
Sales rise for 4 straight months lifts US housing
Print Edition
A fourth straight monthly increase in sales of existing homes provided the latest evidence on Thursday that the US housing market is rebounding from a weak start to the year.
Housing has been a drag on an otherwise strengthening economy, in part because a harsh winter delayed many sales. But Americans are stepping up purchases as more homes have been put up for sale. And low mortgage rates and moderating price gains have made homes more affordable.
“The momentum is in the right direction,” said Andrew Labelle, an economist at TD Bank who noted that the past four months have marked the fastest four-month sales gain since 2011. “Sustained jobs gains, as well as the fall in mortgage rates since the beginning of the year, appear to have unleashed at least some pent-up demand.”
Sales of existing homes rose 2.4 percent in July to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 5.15 million, the National Association of Realtors said on Thursday. That was the highest annual rate since September last year.
The increase follows other encouraging signs that the housing market is improving. The pace of home construction starts surged 15.7 percent in July to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 1.1 million homes, the government said this week. Applications for building permits, a gauge of future activity, also strengthened last month.
Encouraging readings
And a survey of homebuilders released on Monday showed that they were more confident about future sales.
The encouraging readings contrast with reports earlier this year, when weak sales and limited building led economists to characterize housing as a faltering piece of the economic recovery. Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen and Vice Chairman Stanley Fischer had pointed to housing as an economic weak spot.
Economists noted that housing still hasn’t fully recovered from its slowdown earlier this year. The annual sales pace remains 4.3 percent below last July’s rate. And construction has merely returned to its pace in October; it has yet to exceed it.
Yet economists say they’re lifted by signs that the latest sales gains are sustainable.
Stephanie Karol, an economist at IHS Global Insight, said a “virtuous cycle” is emerging: More homeowners are listing their properties for sale. A greater supply of homes then encourages more potential buyers to take the plunge. And that, in turn, helps sustain modest price gains, which lead more people to sell.
“This is exactly the sort of pattern we want to see,” Karol said.
The number of homes for sale rose 3.5 percent in July from June to 2.37 million, the most in nearly two years.
Affordability is improving. The median price fell a bit in July from June to US$222,900, the association said. Though that was still 4.9 percent more than a year ago, annual price gains have slowed.
- About Us
- |
- Terms of Use
- |
-
RSS - |
- Privacy Policy
- |
- Contact Us
- |
- Shanghai Call Center: 962288
- |
- Tip-off hotline: 52920043
- 沪ICP证：沪ICP备05050403号-1
- |
- 互联网新闻信息服务许可证：31120180004
- |
- 网络视听许可证：0909346
- |
- 广播电视节目制作许可证：沪字第354号
- |
- 增值电信业务经营许可证：沪B2-20120012
Copyright © 1999- Shanghai Daily. All rights reserved.Preferably viewed with Internet Explorer 8 or newer browsers.
