Many areas are reporting strong increases in November home sales, providing further evidence that a housing recovery is underway, here’s a sample:
Update/Breaking: Southern California’s housing market surged again last month, with the number of homes sold climbing more than 14% from a year earlier to their highest level for any November in six years. It was the 11th straight month of year-over-year increases. The median home price for the region was $321,000, up from $315,000 the two prior months and a nearly 17% increase over $275,000 in November of 2011.
1. Baltimore-area home sales rose 24% in November compared to last year, while median sales price increased 3.5%.
2. November home sales in the Washington, D.C. area increased by 21.5% compared to last year, median sales price increased 10.4% to highest November price since 2007.
3. Milwaukee-area home sales increased 24.2% in November, median sales price by 5.2%.
4. Des Moines home sales in November increased 20% from last year, while the average sales price increased by 10%, and sales volume by 32%.
5. New home sales in November in the Sacramento area were the highest since 2008.
6. Albuquerque home sales in November increased by 12.2% versus last year, median price increased 3.1%.
7. Savannah home sales increased by 31% in November compared to last year, average price jumped 30.2%.
8. Home sales in the Birmingham area increased 6.5% in November, median sales price increased 13.6%.
9. Pending home sales in Massachusetts were up 28.2% in November compared to last year, marking the 19th consecutive month of year-over-year increase in pending home sales.
Related
10. Lumber prices continue on an upward trend, with spot prices for framing lumber ($362 per 1,000 board feet) and futures prices for CME lumber contracts ($345.60) rising close to 7-year highs last week.
Bottom Line: The ongoing increases in home sales month and after month, along with increases in both average and median home prices point to a U.S. housing recovery that is real, robust and sustainable.
i’m not quite sure what to make of this recovery.
prices are up 2-3% (using the better indexes like cs) and volumes seem to be up in the 11% range yoy, both of which seem like good news and a sign of recovery.
however, in comparison to the drop in both price and in existing home sales, this recovery is quite mild.
prices dropped 30-40% (from admittedly frothy peaks). at 3% increases, it will take a decades to make that back.
volumes dropped from 7 million at the peak and, even if we assume that those were frothy levels and that the 5.5mm numbers were more typical, at 4.5mm it’s going to be another 2 years to get back to those levels even holding the current double digit rate of increase.
i think there is little doubt that the housing market looks a lot better than last year, i’m just not sure how good it is.
…and the Fed is really embracing its role as Head of Central Planning. Explicitly Gosplan.
Party pooper, you need to work on having lots more CONfidence.
We’re SAVED!!!
All it takes is thinking we can and being optimistic.
That’s the animal spirit!
I’m a sheep, hear me roar
Don’t interrupt. Bernanke is in the midst of explaining that the Fed won’t have an auto-pilot policy on anything because they have delusions of fine-tuning. They’re going to get the central planning just right. This time. Pinky-swear.
Big Ben: “Only the public and private sectors, working together, can produce an economic recovery.”.
Working together. Like good fascists.
Sorry about hijacking the thread.
I love it when you talk dirty about recovering.
I’m ready for fascism, just got my new shipment of American flags for wrapping myself up in.
And MMT has the perfect solutions for inflation and inequality and the evil rich and so much more.
http://neweconomicperspectives.org/2012/12/an-alternative-meme-for-money-part-6-alternative-framing-on-inflation.html
QE3+4 = $85 billion per month of raw money creation/printing. That’s 44% more than QE2… but wait, there’s more! It’s open ended!
Happy days are here again, housing and stocks etc. will *boom*!
All hail creative economics and interpretations!
Expect new all time highs in US stock markets before the end of 1Q 2013.
Gold and recessions may be permanently dead now that the Fed and various sentiment management tools are working so well.
I would rather own gold than housing right now.
“Happy days are here again, housing and stocks etc. will *boom*!“…
Some folks haven’t gotten the memo…
From Bloomberg: Home seizures in the U.S. rose 5.4 percent last month, the first annual gain in two years, as lenders seek to manage the flow of distressed properties without disrupting the housing recovery, according to RealtyTrac…
i think there is little doubt that the housing market looks a lot better than last year, i’m just not sure how good it is.
When FHA is handing out 3% down mortgages and anyone who wants one can get one thanks to a compliant Fed it is no surprise that the housing market looks to be having a bit of a bounce. And while that bounce could continue in nominal terms a real recovery is a long way away given the inability of the market to deal with the type of rates that a recovery would produce. Buy gold and stay away from the bond markets.
Have you tried to get a mortgage lately? In my neck of the woods, if you don’t have near-perfect credit, a 20% down-payment, and a stellar appraisal you can forget it. These requirements are still killing about 20% of all potential purchases.
And home sales are still increasing…….
Have you tried to get a mortgage lately? In my neck of the woods, if you don’t have near-perfect credit, a 20% down-payment, and a stellar appraisal you can forget it. These requirements are still killing about 20% of all potential purchases.
And home sales are still increasing…….
FHA is giving out 3% down mortgages. That alone tells us that many of the buyers don’t need 20% down.
Happy daze rulez!