better in the Northeast than any other region
nationwide
The housing market is experiencing one of its most
successful spells that it ever has in history with the spring
market and summer months in particular bringing realizing truly
remarkable breakthroughs. With prices still on the rise, average
lifespan of listings greatly decreased, and overall sales figures
beating out year-over-year comparisons every month, this is quite a
unique time to be involved in this business.
The National Association of Realtors just announced
some interesting findings, that still show the entire industry to
be thriving, but less so in certain regions. As it pertains to here
in the Northeast, the market continues to succeed, yet the news is
not as positive elsewhere in the United States. As the inventory
levels remain low, interest rates have slowly climbed, the national
Pending Home Sales Index has gone down to 107.7 over this past
August. This, it was later discovered, was a 1.6% decrease from
Julys number of 109.4. What this number looks at is a
forward-thinking indicator of contract signings, showing that in
some areas of the country, the market has slightly slowed.
However, the Northeast was the only region where the
Pending Home Sales Index increased as evidenced by the 4%
improvement to 84.8 in August. This also marked a 5.1% annual boost
for the Northeast. Across the country, as referenced, the same
optimism cannot be felt as the Midwest displayed a 1.4% decline to
111.6, which was still up 13.8% from August of 2012s number. The
South also fell, this time by 3.5% to 116.9, up by 3.7% over August
from last year. Finally, the West realized a 1.6% drop to 106.9,
but was up by 1.7% over August of 2012. This annual increases are
still something significant and are worth celebrating, and the fact
that our Northeast alone is still showing growth and prosperity in
the real estate industry is brilliant.
The nationwide statistic is still 5.8% above where it
was in August of 2012 as well, and on a year-over-year basis,
pending sales have increased by comparison for the past 28
consecutive months. Existing-home sales in 2013 are estimated by
the National Association of Realtors to improve by 11% annually to
roughly 5.2 million transactions. With regards to prices,
existing-home values are predicted to rise by up to 12% this year
and by another 6% in 2014.
Evidently, far more positive news concerning the real estate
market is set to endure, as Lawrence Yun, the Chief Economist at
the National Association of Realtors, came forth to conclude on
these numbers by stating, Sharply rising mortgage interest rates in
the spring motivated buyers to make purchase decisions, culminating
in a six-and-a-half-year peak for sales that were finalized last
month. Moving forward, we expect lower levels of existing-home
sales, but tight inventory in many markets will continue to push up
home prices in the months ahead.
More Information: Boston Business
Journal