Single-family homes are seen on this aerial photo taken over the development of Lennar Corp. in San Diego, California.
Bing Guan | Bloomberg | Getty Images
According to the National Association of Realtors, sales of existing homes fell 6.6% in February than expected.
This put them on a seasonally adjusted, annualized rate of 6.22 million units, which was 9.1% higher compared to February 2020.
Despite the fact that the historically busy spring housing market is on track, homeowners do not list their properties for sale at the rate they would normally do this time of year. The supply of homes for sale fell 29.5% year-on-year, the largest annual decline ever, to 1.03 million homes.
At the current rate of sales, it will take two months to take advantage of this offer. A year ago, there was an offer of three months, which is also considered low.
The tight supply continues to fuel house prices, which were 15.8% higher year-on-year in February. The average price of an existing home sold during the month was $ 313,000. This is the highest February price recorded. Prices are rising due to bid wars for homes, but the median was also higher due to more sales on the higher side of the market.
Home sales above $ 1 million were 81% higher than a year ago. Homes costing between $ 100,000 and $ 250,000 fell 11%.
“The fact that the days on the market are fast and that prices are rising, even with the decline in sales,” said Lawrence Yun, chief economist of the brokers. “This implies that it is not due to the demand disappearing from the market, but that it is actually a lack of supply.”
Homes are also selling at the fastest rate ever recorded. The average days on the market dropped to just 20.
Buyers also had higher mortgage rates in February than at the end of last year, which cut their purchasing power. According to Mortgage News Daily, the average rate on the 30-year fixed-term loan fluctuated by 2.8% in January. It then started to rise gradually in February, reaching 3.27% by the end of the month. However, those closing homes in February would probably have locked up their prices in January.
“Already this year, the monthly cost of a $ 300,000 $ 70 loan is higher,” said Danielle Hale, chief economist at realtor.com. “Looking ahead, the large and ever-growing group of consumers who are reaching the best age for home buying will keep interest high, but whether buyers can translate the desire into ownership will depend on whether the income of buyers along with economic ‘growth is rising, buyers are willing to let housing costs take up a larger share of their monthly budgets, or raising home price increases will help promote more homes for sale.’
Homebuilders continue the wind at faster production, such as higher costs for land, labor and materials, as well as delays in the supply chain. The start of single-family housing was lower in February than expected, but some of it may be related to the harsh winter weather in the South.
Regionally, existing home sales fell by 11.5% monthly in the Northeast. They fell 14.4% in the Midwest and 6.1% lower in the South. The West was the only region to make a monthly profit of 4.6%.