National Real Estate News

The economic reports before Thanksgiving were packed with housing market data and, guess what, they were all extremely positive! Monday saw Existing Home Sales UP 10.1% to an annual rate of 6.10 million, the highest since February 2007. Sales are now UP 20% in the past two months and UP 36% from their January lows. Even better, the supply of existing homes was down to just 7 months, with inventories down to 3.57 million, the lowest level in almost three years. This puts existing homes very close to the 6-month supply level of a healthy housing market. The Case-Shiller 20-City Composite Home Price Index rose 0.3% in September. The index also showed its second consecutive quarterly increase, UP 3.1% for Q3, returning to August 2003 levels.

Wednesday, New single-family Home Sales were UP 6.2% in October to an annual rate of 430,000 units. New Home Sales are now UP 30.7% over their January low. The unsold supply of new homes dropped to 6.7 months as of October, with inventories at 239,000, 58.2% down from their mid-2006 peak and at their lowest level since mid-1971. The median price was down only 0.5% from a year ago and average price down just 4.7%.

Freddie Mac reported mortgage rates down for the fourth straight week, reaching historic lows well below 5%, with an average 0.7 point, for prime borrowers with 20% down payments. Freddie Mac's chief economist said, "Interest rates for 30-year fixed-rate loans are currently 0.8 percentage points below this year's peak set in mid-June, which shaves roughly $100 off the monthly payments on a $200,000 mortgage."

~ Courtesy of Chuck Chrobak, Golf Savings Bank, 425.330.9657, CChrobak@GolfSavingsBank.com