National Existing Home Sales Dip

1
National Existing Home Sales Dip

• HAR released the monthly Houston market report
  for February last Tuesday, and two days later,
  NAR came out with national numbers for February.
  Here is what the broader landscape looks like
• Sales of existing homes declined 0.4 in February
  to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 4.6
  million, the slowest pace since July 2012, NAR
  reported.
• Sales rates have trended down since the summer as
  rising mortgage rates and home prices cut
  affordability.
• NAR noted that constrained inventory and
  unusually poor weather may have also a played a
  role in weak buying.
• Economists polled by MarketWatch had expected a
  February sales rate of 4.58 million, compared
  with a January rate of 4.62 million.
• The median sales price of used homes hit 189,000
  in February, up 9.1 from the year-earlier
  period, supported by low inventory.
• February's inventory was 2 million existing homes
  for sale, a 5.2-month supply at the current sales
  pace.

2
Weekly HAR Market Stat

• Spring is finally beginning to show its face
  after a long, cold winter, and generally
  speaking, housing activity is waking up as well.
  It's been a slow start to the selling season thus
  far, but many believe that has more to do with
  the weather at least nationally and lack of
  inventory than it does demand. Any gains may be
  moderate compared to a year ago, but most experts
  agree that market normalcy and stabilization are
  upon us.
• In the Houston region, for the week ending March
  16
• New Listings increased 7.6 to 2,232
• Pending Sales increased 23.6 to 2,190
• Closed Sales decreased 8.8 to 1,239

3


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• Advanced Negotiations for Listing Agents
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• Advanced Negotiations for Sellers includes more
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• Date Wed. Thurs., April 16 17
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• Investment 249

Questions? 713-629-1900 ext. 6
Register at www.har.com/edu