EXISTING HOMES
Sales pick up for 4th straight month, easing market fears
Housing recovery accelerates as sales of existing homes rise for a 4th straight month
8/22/2014WASHINGTON — A fourth straight monthly increase in sales of existing homes provided the latest evidence Thursday that the U.S. housing market is rebounding from a weak start to the year.
Housing has been a drag on an otherwise strengthening economy, in part because a harsh winter delayed many sales. But Americans are stepping up purchases as more homes have been put up for sale. And low mortgage rates and moderating price gains have made homes more affordable.
“The momentum is in the right direction,” said Andrew Labelle, an economist at TD Bank who noted that the last four months have marked the fastest four-month sales gain since 2011. “Sustained jobs gains, as well as the fall in mortgage rates since the beginning of the year, appear to have unleashed at least some pent-up demand.”
Sales of existing homes rose 2.4 percent in July to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 5.15 million, the National Association of Realtors said Thursday. That was the highest annual rate since September, 2013.
The increase follows other encouraging signs that the housing market is improving. The pace of home construction starts surged 15.7 percent in July to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 1.1 million homes, the government said this week. Applications for building permits, a gauge of future activity, also strengthened last month.
And a survey of homebuilders released Monday showed that they were more confident about future sales.
The encouraging readings contrast with reports earlier this year, when weak sales and limited building led economists to characterize housing as a faltering piece of the economic recovery.
Economists noted that housing still hasn’t fully recovered from its slowdown earlier this year. The annual sales pace remains 4.3 percent below last July’s rate.
In Ohio, July home sales rose 1.2 percent from June and dropped less than 1 percent from July, 2013.
“The Ohio housing market is continuing to display stability in 2014, as sales activity is keeping pace with prior levels and prices are experiencing modest gains,” said OAR President Chris Hall, who is from Oregon and manages Danberry Co.’s Oregon and Perrysburg offices.
“The minor ebbs and flows in sales activity that have occurred from month-to-month is simply a reflection of a return to a traditional, healthy marketplace.”
In northwest Ohio, sales were up 11 percent over last year and the average price of $131,271 was 5 percent higher.