January Home Sales Up for 5 Straight Months

Existing-home sales continues to increase, with January sales increasing for the third consecutive month or 5 months out of six.

Single-family, townhomes, condominiums and co-ops, increased 2.7 percent to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 5.36 million in January from a downwardly revised 5.22 million in December, and are 5.3 percent above the 5.09 million level in January 2010. This is the first time in seven months that sales activity was higher than a year earlier.

I personally believe the improvement is good but could be better and still very much a Buyers market. “The uptrend in home sales is consistent with improvements in the economy and jobs, which are helping boost consumer confidence. “The extremely favorable housing affordability conditions are a big factor, but buyers have been constrained by unnecessarily tight credit. As a result, there are abnormally high levels of all-cash purchases, along with rising investor activity.”

Investors accounted for 23 percent of purchases in January, up from 20 percent in December and 17 percent in January 2010; the balance of sales was to repeat buyers. Cash sales rose to 32 percent in January from 29 percent in December and 26 percent in January 2010.

This all seems to follow Asheville Homes Sales along with Waynesville, Maggie Valley Real Estate home sales.

The national median existing-home price3 for all housing types was $158,800 in January, down 3.7 percent from January 2010 Asheville Home sales Average was $178,400. Distressed homes edged up to a 37 percent market share in January from 36 percent in December; it was 38 percent in January 2010.

In February Asheville Homes including Weaverville, Waynesville and Maggie Valley Homes sales are up for our company considerably from a year ago. These figures will be available in early March.