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Key Points Sales of existing homes soared 24.7% in July from June, according to the National Association of Realtors. The supply of existing homes plummeted 21.1% annually, with just 1.5 million homes for sale at the end of July. The median price of a home sold in July rose 8.5% annually to $304,100. ================================================================================= Sales of existing homes soared 24.7% in July from June, according to the National Association of Realtors. That’s the strongest monthly gain in the history of the survey, going back to 1968, and the highest sales pace since December 2006. Sales were 8.7% higher from July...

Existing-home sales exploded higher in June as home buyers took advantage of record-low mortgage rates and fled city centers beset with anti-police protests, riots, looting, crime, shootings, stay-at-home orders, shuttered businesses, closed schools, and a loss of amenities such as restaurants, theaters, and museums. Total existing-home sales rose 20.7 percent from May to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 4.72 million, the largest monthly increase ever, data from the National Association of Realtor showed Wednesday. Sales fell in each of the previous three months due to the ongoing pandemic and lockdown rules that made showing homes in person difficult and...

The U.S. housing market is crumbling--a worrying indication that an economic catastrophe could be brewing. Yet, nobody seems sure why this is happening in an economy that remains hale and hearty by most measures. Existing home sales cratered a massive 10.3 percent year-over-year and 6.4 percent month-over-month in December to just 4.99 million units. That was several multiples worse than the 1 percent month-on-month decline that a Reuters survey of economists had projected. It also marked the lowest level of sales in three years and the steepest decline in seven years. Home sales declined on a year-over-year basis in every...

Existing-home sales ran at a 5.34 million seasonally-adjusted annual rate in July, down 0.7% versus June, the National Association of Realtors said Wednesday. That was the lowest pace since February 2016... … For years, the Realtors have been warning that many would-be buyers, particularly at the lower end of the market, are being priced out. Now they’re also acknowledging that many others are just deciding to sit it out until market conditions change. … “Three years of exceptionally tight inventory and exceptionally strong price gains are catching up with the market, and are visible both in softer demand from stretched...

International buyers purchased 34,135 Texas homes during the year that ended with the first quarter, according to a new report by the Texas Association of Realtors. Offshore home buys in the Lone Star State added up to almost $18.7 billion during the 12-month period, according to a new Realtors report.

Foreigners snap up record number of US homes Foreign buyers closed on $153 billion worth of U.S. residential properties for the 12 months ended in March. That marks a 49 percent jump from 2015-2016, according to the National Association of Realtors. Florida, Texas and California drew the most international buyers. Diana Olick | @DianaOlick 6 Hours Ago CNBC.com Foreigners snap up record number of US homes ï…„ Foreigners snap up record number of US homes 3 Hours Ago | 00:57 Foreign purchases of U.S. residential real estate surged to the highest level ever in terms of number of homes sold...

Fresh on the heels of a glowing existing homes sales report comes news of an unexpected plunge in pending home sales. Economists in the Econoday survey expected a 1.1% increase. Instead, the pending home sales index plunged 2.8%. “Just when existing home sales seemed to be showing lift the pending home sales index, which tracks initial contract signings, is down 2.8 percent in the January report. This points to weakness for final resales in February and March. The West is the culprit in January’s data, with contract signings down 9.8 percent in the month for year-on-year contraction of 0.4 percent....

While rising treasury yields may be music to the ears of savers who have been crushed by low interest rates over the past 7 years, they're a bit of downer for the overwhelming majority of Americans that have been funding their lavish lifestyles with cheap debt. Yes, sadly the days of upgrading to the $65,000 luxury car despite a $40,000 annual salary, because you can "afford it" so long as you can cover the low monthly payments courtesy of 7-year terms and low interest rates, may finally be coming to an end. But auto OEM's aren't the only ones about...

Existing-home sales for August an annual rate fell o.9% to 5.33 million units, the National Association of Realtors said Thursday, as the supply of existing homes for sales fell 10% vs. a year earlier. Economists had expected a rate of 5.44 million. Sales fell significantly in July to a revised 5.38 million, but from a recovery high. ... Tuesday, the Commerce Department reported August housing starts fell more than expected. But a day earlier, the National Association of Home Builders said its builder sentiment gauge soared in September to match an 11-year high. Meanwhile, the Federal Reserve's decision to leave...

In hopes of promoting the narrative of a US housing recovery, one recurring thesis has been that as Millennials get older and start families, they will eventually leave their parents' basement and buy a house or shift from renting to owning. So far the facts have refused to corroborate this, and according to the latest "Housing Vacancies and Homeownership" report released on Thursday, the dream of owning a home just became even more distant. The reason: after staging a feeble rebound in late 2015, the US homeownership rate just tumbled from 63.5% to 62.9%, tied for the lowest print going...

Pending home sales dove 3.7%, well below the Bloomberg Econoday consensus estimate of -1%, and even below the bottom estimate of -2.4% The bad details continue, as last month’s huge rise of 5.1% was lowered to 3.9%. “Highlights Existing home sales have been trending higher but today’s pending home sales index, which tracks contract signings, may be pointing to slowing for the early part of the summer. The index fell a steep 3.7 percent in the May report to nearly reverse a downward revised 3.9 percent jump in April. Year-on-year, the pending sales index is down 0.2 percent which hints...

U.S. home resales fell sharply in February in a potentially troubling sign for America's economy which has otherwise looked resilient to the global economic slowdown. The National Association of Realtors said on Monday existing home sales dropped 7.1 percent to an annual rate of 5.08 million units, the lowest level since November. Economists had forecast home resales decreasing 2.8 percent to a pace of 5.32 million units last month. Sales have been volatile and prone to big swings up and down in recent months following the introduction in October of new mortgage regulations, which are intended to help homebuyers understand...

The index of pending home sales unexpectedly fell 1.8 percent, the first drop this year, after a revised 0.6 percent increase in May that was smaller than initially reported, figures from the National Association of Realtors showed Wednesday in Washington. The median forecast of 37 economists surveyed by Bloomberg called for a 0.9 percent gain. The data are consistent with the slow improvement in housing, restrained by still-tight lending standards and a limited selection of available properties. An easing of those conditions, along with an acceleration in wage growth, would allow more Americans to take advantage of cheap borrowing costs...

The U.S. homeownership rate fell to 63.4 percent in the second quarter of 2015, according to the U.S. Census. That is down from 63.7 percent in the first quarter and from 64.7 percent in the same quarter of 2014. It marks the lowest homeownership rate since 1967. "It is now just five-tenths from the record low seen in 1965 in data going back also to 1965," noted Peter Boockvar, an analyst with The Lindsey Group. "All the governmental attempts (certainly aided and abetted by many players in the private sector) at boosting homeownership has gotten us to this point in...

Houses have become stocks... the higher the price, the more demand (especially as the government has your back with low down-payment loans and the re-emergence of IOs). With Existing Home Sales soaring to a SAAR of 5.49 million, the highest since early 2007, the fact that median home prices are at an all-time high appears to be any problem for the releveraging American (or Chinese) homebuyer.  Lawrence Yun, NAR chief economist, says backed by June's solid gain in closings, this year's spring buying season has been the strongest since the downturn. "Buyers have come back in force, leading to the...

This is how ridiculous government data has become: in the same month in which both Housing Starts and Existing Home sales significantly missed expectations, misses which were promptly blamed on the weather, the Census Bureau moments ago released a stunner of a New Home Sales number, which supposedly rose from an upward revised 500K to 539K, smashing expectations of 481K, a 25% spike from a year ago and up 7.8% from January, which incidentally is also the highest number since February 2008, even as the median home price dropped to the lowest since September. And a close-up on the...

Following misses in yesterday's Markit Service PMI, Existing Home Sales and the Dallas Fed report, and today's Durable Goods numbers, we just made it a pentafecta for misses in US econ data, when the just released August Case-Shiller data for August confirmed once again that US housing is rapidly slowing down, when the Top 20 Composite Index (Seasonally Adjusted) posted another decline in August, its fourth in a row, declining by -0.15% and missing expectations of a modest 0.2% rebound (following last month's -0.5%) decline. The best summary of the situation came from S&P's David Blitzer: "The deceleration in...

The Census Bureau report New Residential Sales Report shows sales of new single-family houses in March 2014 were at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 384,000. Sales are 14.5 percent below the revised February rate of 449,000 Sales are 13.3 percent below the March 2013 estimate of 443,000 Median sales price was $290,000 vs. $260,900 in February, $257,500 in March of 2013 Average sales price was $334,200 vs. $318,900 in February, $300,200 in March of 2013 Median sales price was up 11.5% from last month, 12.6% from year ago Average sales price was up 4.8% from last month, 11.3% from...

More African-Americans are being squeezed out of the housing market. Not only are they less likely to apply for a mortgage than any other ethnic group, but African-Americans are also 2.4 times more likely to get denied a mortgage than Whites, a recent study conducted by Zillow and the National Urban League found.

I was perusing online stories about today's release of pending homes sales data from the National Association of Realtors. Here are a few sample headlines. NAR: Pending Home Sales Edge Up in NovemberCNBC: US pending home sales rise 0.2 percentCalculated Risk: Pending Home Sales Index increased 0.2% in NovemberForbes: Pending Home Sales Tick Up In November, First Time In Five MonthsReuters: U.S. pending home sales end slide, hint at stabilizationFox Business News: Pending Home Sales Rise Slightly, Miss Street View One Headline Title Stood Out Zero Hedge: Pending Home Sales Plunge At Fastest Pace Since April 2011 It took about...