Existing-Home Sales for 2016 Best in Decade

Jon Economy, Government, Market Commentary, Real Estate

This morning’s release of the December Existing-Home Sales decreased from the previous month to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 5.49 million units from an upwardly revised 5.65 million in November. The Investing.com consensus was for 5.52 million. The latest number represents a 2.8% decrease from the previous month and a 0.7% increase year-over-year.
Here is an excerpt from today’s report from the National Association of Realtors.
Lawrence Yun, NAR chief economist, says the housing market’s best year since the Great Recession ended on a healthy but somewhat softer note. “Solid job creation throughout 2016 and exceptionally low mortgage rates translated into a good year for the housing market,” he said. “However, higher mortgage rates and home prices combined with record low inventory levels stunted sales in much of the country in December.” [Full Report]

This post was published at FinancialSense on 01/24/2017.