Salient to Investors:
Dean Maki at Barclays said the housing recovery is intact and on a solid foundation.
Lawrence Yun at NAR said the double-digit median price increase is unhealthy because incomes are rising at less than 2 percent – the only way to moderate price increases is more supply, which is 14 percent lower than a year earlier. It would take 5.2 months to sell inventory at the end of April versus 4.7 months at the end of March. The median number of days on the market was 46 in April versus 62 in March.
Foreclosures and distressed sales accounted for 18 percent of the total, the lowest share in data going back to October 2008.
The average fixed rate on a 30-year loan was 3.51 percent last week versus 3.79 percent a year ago, and the record low of 3.31 percent on November 2012.
Read the full article at http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2013-05-22/sales-of-previously-owned-u-s-homes-climb-to-three-year-high.html
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