US home sales rise to two-year high in August

EnglishLady · Sep 19, 2012

"Sales of previously owned US homes reached their highest level for more than two years in August, figures show.

Prices for such homes also rose, according to figures from the National Association of Realtors (NAR).

The figures added to the picture of an improving US housing market, although the number of first-time buyers fell back from 34% to 31%.

Earlier, figures from the US Commerce Department showed new house building had also risen between July and August.

Seasonally adjusted home sales were running at an annual rate of 4.82 million last month, according to the NAR.

That is the biggest number since May 2010, when sales were boosted by a federal home-buying tax credit."

BBC News - US home sales rise to two-year high in August

US home sales jump to highest since May 2010 - Yahoo! News

bobwg · Sep 19, 2012

That is nice but it is only one month and Fed Ex has lowered its outlook for the rest of the year and American Airlines is laying off workers and cancelling some of its flight schedules citing the economy as a reason

davekc · Sep 19, 2012

Better up than down, but there is this pesky problem they forgot to mention.

The nation's inventory of homes - those for sale on the market - rose 2.9 percent during the month to 2.47 million.

EnglishLady · Sep 19, 2012

davekc said:
Better up than down, but there is this pesky problem they forgot to mention.

The nation's inventory of homes - those for sale on the market - rose 2.9 percent during the month to 2.47 million.

Sorry I don't understand .... isn't it good that ppl are putting houses back on the market?

I was assuming that this is a good thing also ...
"The percentage of home sales by distressed sellers was 22%, down from 31% a year ago."

And that the market favours neither seller or buyer, I would think thats good to

isn't it ?

davekc · Sep 19, 2012

EnglishLady said:
Sorry I don't understand .... isn't it good that ppl are putting houses back on the market?

I was assuming that this is a good thing also ...
"The percentage of home sales by distressed sellers was 22%, down from 31% a year ago."

And that the market favours neither seller or buyer, I would think thats good to

isn't it ?

If you have more buyers than sellers then the total stock of homes would go down. That isn't what we are currently seeing. We are seeing a supply increase.
What I did find interesting is that last month a third of the homes sales were cash deals. Compared to home sales in 05, we are doing about a third of that number.

Turtle · Sep 19, 2012

I think a fair number of the homes are banks putting foreclosed home back on the market.

davekc · Sep 19, 2012

Turtle said:
I think a fair number of the homes are banks putting foreclosed home back on the market.

That is true. There will be several waves of "dumping" by banks. I believe investors and people downsizing is accounting for the high rise in cash only deals. Because of of the new bank regulations, only two thirds of that total number for the month could obtain any kind of financing despite the current low rates.

moose · Sep 19, 2012

you can expect Sep. to beat that #'s, as a direct result of the Feds announcement that they will continue to buy privet debt indefinably. this is good news for lenders, as they can sale their products without ever needing to recover the failed loans. just collect the free public money later on.

davekc · Sep 19, 2012

That is part of it but you are since that just started, that impact will show up in Sept. Just more millions added to the debt that according to Obama, "we don't need to worry about that debt in the short term".

aristotle · Sep 19, 2012

Mortgage rates are near historic lows because the banks are flush with cash. Thanks to quantitative easing, the Fed keeps increasing the money supply. However, the Fed can do nothing to increase the universe of well-qualified borrowers. So, banks sit on the cash unable or unwilling to lend except for exceptionally well-qualified borrowers. Money, money everywhere... but the average working stiff cannot get a loan.

My mother-in-law's home has been on the market almost two years. Seldom gets a looker. Even more rare to get a looker qualified for a mortgage. Banks are risk-averse these days.

davekc · Sep 19, 2012

Most of that is from Obama's Dodd-Frank bill. As more regulations were added, the banks are taking on less risk. As mentioned, the well off won't be impacted, just the little guy.

Pilgrim · Sep 19, 2012

Most any newspaper of any decent sized town is full of forclosure notices, and this drives the prices of existing homes down even further. Maybe prices in real estate are starting to bottom out and have reached the level where some first time buyers and young families are starting to pull the trigger. I noticed a very nice house in our neighborhood finally sold after being on the market about 30 months and severely discounted from its original asking price. But housing inventories going up with unemployment numbers still around 8.3% is not a good sign, especially with average incomes falling. Sorry Obama fans, but this one statistic in NOT a sign of economic recovery.