- Existing home sales increased 2.0% to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 5.60 million in October, from 5.49 million in September, according to the National Association of Realtors. The median existing home price in October was $232.2 thousand, up 6.0% from October 2015. This was the 56th consecutive month of year-over-year gains. Total housing inventory at the end of October decreased 0.5% from the previous month, and 4.3% from a year ago, to 2.02 million. Unsold inventory was at a 4.3-month supply at the current sales pace, down from 4.4 months in September. Properties typically stayed on the market for 41 days in October, up from 39 days in September, but down from 57 days in October of 2015.
- Sales of new single-family houses were down 1.9% from the previous month, but were up 17.8% from October of 2015, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. The median sales price of new houses sold in October was $304.5 thousand, up 1.9% from a year ago. The seasonally adjusted estimate of new houses for sale at the end of October was 246 thousand. This represents a supply of 5.2 months at the current sales pace, compared with 5.0 in the previous month and 5.6 a year ago.
- The results of Freddie Mac’s Primary Mortgage Market Survey showed mortgage rates rising. 30-year fixed-rate mortgage averaged 4.03% for the week ending November 23rd, up from last week when it averaged 3.94%. A year ago at this time, the 30-year fixed-rate mortgage averaged 3.95%.
- Mortgage applications increased 5.5% from a week earlier, according to data from Mortgage Bankers Association’s (MBA) Weekly Applications Survey for the week ending November 18th.
- The advance figure for initial claims for unemployment insurance was 251 thousand in the week ending November 9, an increase of 18 thousand from the previous week’s revised level. The 4-week moving average was 251 thousand, a decrease of 2 thousand from the previous week’s revised average.
- The Thomson Reuters/University of Michigan Index of Consumer Sentiment rose to 93.8 in November, from 87.2 in October. The Index was 91.3 in November of 2015.
This entry was posted on Sunday, November 27th, 2016 at 5:49 PM and is filed under Key Economic Indicators. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.
Responses are currently closed, but you can trackback from your own site.