Steel Markets

Existing-Home Sales Grow 3.3% in January

February 23, 2017

Existing-home sales in January increased at the fastest pace since February 2007, said the National Association of Realtors. January sales grew 3.3 percent year over year to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 5.69 million.

The median existing-home price in January was $228,900, up 7.1 percent from January 2016 for the 595h consecutive month of year over year gains

Single family homes sales increased 2.5 percent to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 5.04 million and were at a median price of $230,400. Condominium and co-op sales jumped 8.3 percent to a SAAR of 650,000 units, increasing to a median price of $214,400.

Housing inventory rose 2.4 percent to of 1.69 million homes at the end of January for a 3.6 month supply at the current sales pace. Inventory continues to be tight and was 7.1 percent lower than a year ago.

Regionally, sales were strongest in the West, rising 6.6 percent, followed by the Northeast with a 5.3 percent jump in the annual rate. Sales were up 3.6 percent in the South and only the Midwest saw a decline, falling 1.5 percent.

Lawrence Yun, NAR chief economist, said consumers are undeterred by rising interest rates. “Much of the country saw robust sales activity last month as strong hiring and improved consumer confidence at the end of last year appear to have sparked considerable interest in buying a home,” he said. “Market challenges remain, but the housing market is off to a prosperous start as homebuyers staved off inventory levels that are far from adequate and deteriorating affordability conditions.”