U.S. existing home sales surge in December

Existing-Home Sales End 2003 on Strong Note, Set Annual Record

WASHINGTON (January 26, 2004) ? Existing single-family home sales jumped from November to December while overall sales in 2003 easily surpassed the previous record in 2002, according to the National Association of Realtors®. There were a total of 6,100,000 existing-home sales in 2003, up 9.6 percent from the previous record of 5,566,000 in 2002. NAR began tracking the sales series in 1968.

Existing-home sales increased 6.9 percent in December to a seasonally adjusted annual rate* of 6.47 million units from a level of 6.05 million units in November. Last month's sales activity was 8.9 percent higher than the 5.94-million unit level in December 2002 and was second only to a record 6.68 million-unit pace in September 2003.

David Lereah, NAR's chief economist, said the housing market continues to offer surprises. "We've been expecting the pace of home sales to ease, and a decline in November seemed to indicate a more sustainable pace, but the rebound in December ? the second highest monthly pace on record ? shows there's still a lot of life in this market," he said. "The biggest factor is a resumed decline in mortgage interest rates, which have been much lower than most analysts expected."

According to Freddie Mac, the national average commitment rate for a 30-year, conventional, fixed-rate mortgage was 5.88 percent in December, down from 5.93 percent in November; it was 6.05 percent in December 2002. The average 30-year rate for all of 2003 was 5.83 percent, the lowest annual average since Freddie Mac started tracking interest rates in 1971.

NAR President Walt McDonald, broker-owner of Walt McDonald Real Estate in Riverside, Calif., said favorable housing affordability conditions will continue. "Mortgage interest rates have eased even further in recent weeks and we're not expecting any big changes over the next few months," he said. "Given the demand from a growing number of households in an improving economy, we can expect sales to remain close to record activity this year."

Housing inventory levels fell 7.3 percent at the end of December with 2.30 million existing homes available for sale, which represents a 4.3-month supply at the current sales pace. However, inventories were 8.0 percent higher than December 2002 when there were 2.13 million homes available.

The national median existing-home price was $173,200 in December, up 6.7 percent from December 2002 when the median price was $162,400. The median is a typical market price where half of the homes sold for more and half sold for less.

For all of 2003, the median price was $169,900, up 7.5 percent from a median of $158,100 in 2002. This is the strongest annual increase since 1980 when the median price rose 11.7 percent.

Regionally, existing-home sales in the Midwest jumped 9.4 percent from November to an annual rate of 1.39 million units in December, and were 3.7 percent above December 2002. The median price in the Midwest was $141,900, up 3.4 percent from a year ago.

The home resale pace in the West rose 7.9 percent from November to an annual rate of 1.77 million units in December, and was 10.6 percent stronger than December 2002. The median existing-home price in the West was $248,300, up 16.4 percent from the same month a year earlier.

Existing-home sales in the South increased 5.3 percent in December to an annual rate of 2.58 million units, and were 10.7 percent higher than a year ago. The median price of an existing home in the South was $158,900, which was 4.2 percent higher than December 2002.

In the Northeast, existing-home sales rose 2.9 percent from November to a pace of 720,000 units in December, and were 9.1 percent higher than December 2002. The median existing-home price in the Northeast was $192,600, up 11.4 percent from a year earlier.

The National Association of Realtors®, "The Voice for Real Estate," is America's largest trade association, representing more than 972,000 members involved in all aspects of the residential and commercial real estate industries.

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*The annual rate for a particular month represents what the total number of actual sales for a year would be if the relative pace for that month were maintained for 12 consecutive months. Seasonally adjusted annual rates are used in reporting monthly data to factor out seasonal variations in resale activity. For example, home sales volume is normally higher in the summer than in the winter, primarily because of differences in the weather and family buying patterns.

Existing-home sales, which are based on transaction closings, differ from the U.S. Census Bureau's series on new-home sales, which are based on contracts or the acceptance of a deposit. In the count of new-home sales, the house can be in any stage of construction ranging from not started to fully complete. The count of existing-home sales is based on completed transactions in which the home usually is ready for occupancy. Because of these differences, it is not uncommon for each series to move in different directions in the same month. In addition, existing-home sales, which generally account for 85 percent of total home sales, are based on a much larger sample and typically are not subject to large prior-month revisions that are fairly common in the new-home sales series.

The next existing-home sales release is scheduled for February 25 at 10 a.m. EST, when revisions covering the last three years also will be available. The next national outlook release is scheduled for February 9.

DJ Table Of Data On US Existing Home Sales

.
                            Dec       Nov       Oct
(Annual Rate In Millions Of Units)
Existing Home Sales,         6.47     6.05     6.35
 Seasonally Adjusted
 Percent Change              6.9     -4.7     -4.9
 Previous Estimate                   -4.6     -4.9
   Northeast                0.720     0.700    0.730
   Midwest                  1.390     1.270    1.360
   South                    2.580     2.450    2.570
   West                     1.770     1.640    1.680
Months' Supply Available    4.3       4.9      4.6

(Not Seasonally Adjusted)
Actual Sales                0.500     0.443    0.539
Average Price            $222,500  $214,600  $218,100
Median Price             $173,200  $169,900  $171,800
 

  (END) Dow Jones Newswires

  01-26-04 1103ET- - 11 03 AM EST 01-26-04

Nice. Now if we can just get these unemployment figures down, GWB will be the one letting out a grrrrrrrrrrrowl on election day!

Are you suggesting all these people who are buying homes are out of work? Please don't buy into the conventional bull.......there are plenty of people working, good jobs too. Some areas are hurting and some industries are hurting but things are not as painted by the media and the dem stooges running to fixitall.

No, not at all. Two seperate and more than likely unrelated figures, home sales and unemployment. But in the context of GWB having a good economic report card going into the election, I hope the unemployment numbers pick up too. Not that you or I really think a President has much to do with that, but the media certainly does.

We must accentuate the positive news and point out that these figures bely the dems theory that everyone is out of work and out of health insurance.