Americans buy existing homes at fastest pace in a decade

[Zorro]

Source: LA Times

Americans shrugged off rising mortgage rates and bought existing homes in January at the fastest pace since 2007. That has set off bidding wars that have pushed up prices as the supply of available homes has dwindled to record lows.

Home sales rose 3.3% in January from December to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 5.69 million, the National Assn. of Realtors said Wednesday.

Steady job gains, modest pay raises and rising consumer confidence are spurring healthy home buying even though borrowing costs have risen since last fall. Some potential buyers may be accelerating their home purchases to get ahead of any further increases in mortgage rates. With few homes available for sale, buyers feel pressure to rapidly close a deal when they find a suitable property.

The typical house for sale was on the market for just 50 days last month, down from 64 days a year earlier. Strong demand is pushing up the median home price, which jumped 7.1% from a year earlier to $228,900.

Read more: http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-home-sales-20170222-story.html

[tenorly]

1. Excellent. That makes an increase of 40% during the Obama years.

The best performance since the Clinton years (up 50%) and better than under Reagan (up 30%).

The only question is: how much will home sales decline with Cheeto in the saddle.

[snort]

2. I don't want to answer that.

And, it's the number one reason my house just hit the market.

[tenorly]

3. You're smart. Buy on the sound of cannons, sell on the sound of TRUMPets.

Good luck with the sale, snort. All the Best to you and yours.

[snort]

5. Thanks tenorly.

Using the hoped for proceeds to buy a piece of land so if we do have a loss of income at least we won't be out of a home (Got a couple of RVs), so we're shopping southern rural Washington. Nice close up views of Mt. St. Helens, Mt. Adams and Mt. Rainier. What could possibly go wrong?

All the best right back at you.

[elmac]

4. very select areas

have housing booms, bet 95% are seeing no real increase in sells. Some states, like MI, you can't hardly give a house away do to shitty economy, high prop taxes, ect.... Location, location, location.

[BeekeeperInVermont]

9. It's still location, location, location.

We got a fairly good price for a house we owned in NE Pennsylvania when we sold it last year, but it wasn't as much as the husband wanted. The realtor told us that we were competing against almost three thousand homes for sale in that county alone, including homes that had been foreclosed years ago when the housing market crashed and were just now coming on the market. Local conditions always determine how quickly and for how much a home will sell.

No matter the national trends, around here in Windsor County, Vermont, realtors are giving talks about how to sell your home in a tough market, because there are so few buyers. The husband and I are staying put, because we love where we live.

[forthemiddle]

6. Please continue one or two more months!

We are putting our house on the market tomorrow!
Due to a job change for my husband we really need a quick turn-around.

[joet67]

10. I and hoping the market holds for a few good months yet. That way, when it finally does

come tumbling down again, it can't be blamed on Obama, like everything else is. I want them to fully own their own mistakes.

[BeekeeperInVermont]

12. Agree!

If the economy blows up, let it blow up well into the Trump term, although that won't stop the Repubs from blaming it on Obama. Despite all the bumbling of the Bush II administration, we still heard some claim the attacks of September 11 were Clinton's fault.

[greymattermom]

7. I got a cold call

from a real estate agent wanting to list my house that I bought at the bottom of the market. Nope.

[JackRiddler]

8. "Fastest rate since 2007."

This time is different!

[Occulus]

11. How many of these are individual families

and how many of the purchases are being made by holding companies/developers looking for potential conversion into rental properties?