Guess how many years it’s been since we saw news this big?
Poor Obama. He can’t blame this on Dubya.
The housing market — more specifically, sales for existing homes are heating up.
Americans shrugged off rising mortgage rates and bought existing homes in January at the fastest pace since 2007. That has set off bidding wars that have pushed up prices as the supply of available homes has dwindled to record lows.
Home sales rose 3.3% in January from December to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 5.69 million, the National Assn. of Realtors said Wednesday.
Steady job gains, modest pay raises and rising consumer confidence are spurring healthy home buying even though borrowing costs have risen since last fall. Some potential buyers may be accelerating their home purchases to get ahead of any further increases in mortgage rates. With few homes available for sale, buyers feel pressure to rapidly close a deal when they find a suitable property.
The typical house for sale was on the market for just 50 days last month, down from 64 days a year earlier. Strong demand is pushing up the median home price, which jumped 7.1% from a year earlier to $228,900.
…“We are a bit less gloomy about housing than a couple of months ago, but sales will not continue to rise at their recent pace,” said Ian Shepherdson, chief economist at Pantheon Macroeconomics.
The bulk of the stronger buying is occurring among higher-priced properties, the Realtors group said. Sales among homes and condominiums priced at $100,000 and below fell nearly 10% in January compared with a year earlier. They rose slightly in the $100,000 to $250,000 bracket and jumped roughly 20% in homes priced at higher levels. — LATimes
The Highest sales for existing homes in TEN years, you say.
Doesn’t that take us to BEFORE Obama’s time in office? Didn’t Hannity like to run the numbers on Obama’s economic record… and include something about housing in there? See for yourself.
SOMETHING is ramping up the public’s confidence. Do you think it might have something to do with November 8th?
