Housing forecasts by experts often dont turn out as expected. For example, sales of existing homes increased by 5.2 percent in February to a seasonally adjusted annualized rate of 6.91 million units, according to a report from the National Association of Realtors. Most analysts predicted a downturn in sales. Leading economists were expecting sales of about 6.52 million, according to a survey conducted by MarketWatch.
However, the supply of unsold homes rose by 5.2 percent in February to 3.03 million. Thats close to the all-time record of 3.04 million in 1986. That inventory represents 5.3 months supply of home inventory. NAR still predicts a lower level of home sales this year. Existing home sales are expected to fall 5.7 percent to 6.67 million units during the year down from the record 7.08 million last year.
New home sales are expected to drop by 7.7 percent this year. New home construction starts will probably total 1.98 million this year, down 4.3 percent from last year. As for home prices (nationally), they are expected to increase by about 5.4 percent this year. The 30-year,, fixed-rate mortgage will probably increase gradually during the year to about 6.9 percent by the fourth quarter, according to NAR. |
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