Reports Show Signs of Growth in Housing Market Moving into 2015
NEW YORK (MainStreet) — There is some good news for the housing market heading into 2015, based on two reports from major real estate organizations.
First, the California Association of Realtors says pending home sales in California (a bellwether state for the U.S. housing market) is up for the second month in a row. Home sales in the Golden State were up by 2% in October, giving the statewide market the first back-to-back rise in sales since January through March.
Still, on a year-to-year basis, pending home sales were down by 0.5% from October 2013 to October 2014, signaling the California residential housing market has a ways to go before really taking off. Contributing to the month-to-month rise in sales were equity-based home sales (meaning non-distressed home sales), which made up 91% of all California home sales in October. The association reports that equity sales have made up 80% of all California home sales since July 2013, and are more than 90% of sales for five consecutive months — another solid sign of housing growth on the west coast.
The second report this week is from Seattle-based Redfin, a real estate brokerage firm, saying that home sale were up 2.2% in October, making it the first month that nationwide home sales “clearly outpaced” sales from last year. The 2.2% figure represents another strong signal the market is increasingly robust, as it represents the first month of significant growth; every other month of the year so far in 2014 (outside of September, at 0.3% growth) showed negative sales numbers.
Redfin points to lower average mortgage rates, which have fallen under 4% in many major markets, and a decline in official unemployment figures to less than 6%, for the surge in home sales. Also contributing are lower home prices across the nation — they’ve grown by only 3.8% this year, which constitutes a “slowdown,” and an increase in homes for sale in most markets.
Growth in home sales is pretty much spread out across the country, with the highest rate of home sales in Tampa and Orlando, Fla.; Portland, Ore.; Raleigh-Durham, N.C.; and Boulder, Colo.
One common denominator? In all of those areas, save for Orlando, household incomes have risen this year.
— By Brian O’Connell for MainStreet
Original Post: http://www.mainstreet.com/article/reports-show-signs-of-growth-in-housing-market-moving-into-2015 | From MainStreet
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