Existing-home sales continued to improve in August, reaching the fastest rate since May 2010, and the national median home price rose on a year-over-year basis for the sixth month in a row, according to data released Wednesday by the National Association of Realtors.
Existing-home sales continued to improve in August, reaching the fastest rate since May 2010, and the national median home price rose on a year-over-year basis for the sixth month in a row, according to data released Wednesday by the National Association of Realtors.
Overall existing-home sales, including single-family homes, townhomes, condos and co-ops, rose 7.8 percent to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 4.82 million in August from 4.47 million in July. The latest figures are 9.3 percent higher than the 4.41 million-unit level reached August 2011.
Meanwhile, existing single-family home sales rose 8.0 percent to an annual rate of 4.30 million in August from 3.98 million in July, and are 10.0 percent above the 3.91 million-unit pace in August 2011. The median existing single-family home price was $188,700 in August, up 10.2 percent from a year ago.
"The housing market is steadily recovering with consistent increases in both home sales and median prices," said Lawrence Yun, the NAR's chief economist. "More buyers are taking advantage of excellent housing affordability conditions. Inventories in many parts of the country are broadly balanced, favoring neither sellers nor buyers. However, the West and Florida markets are experiencing inventory shortages, which are placing pressure on prices."
The national median existing-home price for all housing types was $187,400 in August, up 9.5 percent from a year ago. The last time there were six back-to-back monthly price increases from a year earlier was from December 2005 to May 2006. What's more, August's price increase was the strongest since January 2006, when the median price rose 10.2 percent from a year earlier.
The total housing inventory at the end of August rose 2.9 percent to 2.47 million existing homes available for sale, representing a 6.1-month supply at the current sales pace, down from a 6.4-month supply in July. The listed inventory is 18.2 percent below a year ago when there was an 8.2-month supply.
"Total sales this year will be 8 to 10 percent above 2011," said NAR President Moe Veissi, "but some buyers are frustrated with mortgage availability. If most of the financially qualified buyers could obtain financing, home sales would be about 10 to 15 percent stronger, and the related economic activity would create several hundred thousand jobs over the period of a year."
