Last year's existing home sales ended with a dip in December but the year as a whole was the best since 2006
Last year’s existing home sales ended with a dip in December but the year as a whole was the best since 2006.
Completed transactions for the whole year were up 1.1% to a 5.51 million sales pace, up from 5.45 million in 2016 but falling short of the 6.48 million of 2006.
For December, there was a 3.6% decline in existing home sales to a SAAR of 5.57 million compared to November’s revised (down) figure of 5.78 million.
The figures from the National Association of Realtors meant that residential real estate was an asset to the US economy in 2017 and chief economist Lawrence Yun said this included wealth creation and low distressed sales.
Existing sales concluded the year on a softer note, but they were guided higher these last 12 months by a multi-year streak of exceptional job growth, which ignited buyer demand," he said.
However, supply issues continued to dampen the market with new listings lagging demand.
"Closings scaled back in most areas last month for this same reason. Affordability pressures persisted, and the pool of interested buyers at the end of the year significantly outweighed what was available for sale," added Yun.
Prices gain for 70th straight month
While sales were subdued in December, media prices were not. There was a 5.8% gain year-over-year to $246,800, up from $233,300 in 2016.
Prices were driven by tight markets as inventory dropped 11.4% in December to 1.48 million existing homes available. Inventory has fallen for 31 consecutive months. Months of supply was just 3.2 at the end of December compared to 3.6 a year earlier.
"The lack of supply over the past year has been eye-opening and is why, even with strong job creation pushing wages higher, home price gains – at 5.8 percent nationally in 2017 – doubled the pace of income growth and were even swifter in several markets," said Yun.
Completed transactions for the whole year were up 1.1% to a 5.51 million sales pace, up from 5.45 million in 2016 but falling short of the 6.48 million of 2006.
For December, there was a 3.6% decline in existing home sales to a SAAR of 5.57 million compared to November’s revised (down) figure of 5.78 million.
The figures from the National Association of Realtors meant that residential real estate was an asset to the US economy in 2017 and chief economist Lawrence Yun said this included wealth creation and low distressed sales.
Existing sales concluded the year on a softer note, but they were guided higher these last 12 months by a multi-year streak of exceptional job growth, which ignited buyer demand," he said.
However, supply issues continued to dampen the market with new listings lagging demand.
"Closings scaled back in most areas last month for this same reason. Affordability pressures persisted, and the pool of interested buyers at the end of the year significantly outweighed what was available for sale," added Yun.
Prices gain for 70th straight month
While sales were subdued in December, media prices were not. There was a 5.8% gain year-over-year to $246,800, up from $233,300 in 2016.
Prices were driven by tight markets as inventory dropped 11.4% in December to 1.48 million existing homes available. Inventory has fallen for 31 consecutive months. Months of supply was just 3.2 at the end of December compared to 3.6 a year earlier.
"The lack of supply over the past year has been eye-opening and is why, even with strong job creation pushing wages higher, home price gains – at 5.8 percent nationally in 2017 – doubled the pace of income growth and were even swifter in several markets," said Yun.
