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REAL Trends Housing Market Report: Housing Sales Increased — Slowly

By Missouri REALTORS posted 03-18-2014 10:03 AM

  



Small increase in year-over-year sales in January 2014.

The REAL Trends Housing Market Report for January 2014 shows that the rate of housing sales increased at the slowest rate in the last 30 months on a year-over-year basis. Sales of new and existing homes in January 2014 increased 1.1 percent over the rate of sales in January 2013. The annual rate of new and existing home sales for January 2014 was 6.043 million units up slightly from 5.976 million units sold in January 2013. 

The average price of homes sold increased by 13.3 percent in January 2014 compared to January 2013 on the strongest showings in the last year. 

“January 2014 sales of new and existing homes reflected the decline in the affordability rate in most regions, the widespread inclement weather, and the rise in interest rates. The slowdown in year-over-year unit sales also reflects the absence of real growth in employment and household incomes,” said Steve Murray, editor of the REAL Trends Housing Market Report. 

Housing unit sales for January 2014 increased 4.8 percent in the Northeast, the strongest showing in the country. The next highest region was in the South region with an increase of 4.1 percent, the Midwest region was down 1.3 percent, and the West was down 3.7 percent. 

The average price of homes sold in January 2014 increased 13.3 percent across the country, a wide increase over the same year over year results from December 2013. The West region had the best results with the average price of homes sold increasing 18.7 percent followed by the Northeast region at 14.1 percent, the Midwest region at 9.9 percent, and the South saw average prices rise 9.4 percent. 

“As we stated last month we believe that unit sales are nearing a normal level given employment, the number of households, mortgage rates and household income,” says Murray. “We expect that year over year increases will continue to be only slightly improved on a year-over-year basis in the months ahead.”  

REAL Trends January/December Housing Market Report

(Versus same month a year ago)

                                                January 2014                  January 2014                  December 2013                   December 2013

                                                Closed Sales                  Average Price                 Closed Sales                       AveragePrice

National                                         +1.1%                           +13.3%                         +6.8%                               +2.5%            

Regional Report

Northeast                                       +4.8%                           +14.1%                        +7.8%                                -2.5%        

South                                             +4.1%                           +9.4%                         +10.6%                              +5.2%                

Midwest                                          -1.3%                           +9.9%                          +6.9%                                +6.9%               

West                                              -3.7%                            +18.7%                        +0.3%                               +4.6%

 


This article appeared in REAL Trends Newsletter and is being reprinted with permission of REAL Trends, Copyright 2014. 

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03-19-2014 09:50 PM

Glad you found it useful, Penny! We'll keep updating the blog with new REAL Trends content. Check back soon for more!

03-19-2014 09:42 AM

Now this is great information....A breakdown showing OUR area statistics and how our particular real estate market is doing. Very Useful...Thank you!!