Home Sales Report a Mixed Bag

Bencat

Existing Home Sales Report a Mixed Bag

        Existing home sales in April increased 2.9% from March to an annualized rate of 4.68 million units (consensus 4.66 mln), but remained 3.5% below the year-ago level. The March number was revised slightly lower to 4.55 million from 4.57 million. Distressed sales accounted for 45% of all sales in April, which is down from just over half of all transactions in March... On a regional basis, existing home sales jumped 11.6% in the Northeast, 3.5% in the West, 1.8% in the South, and declined 2.0% in the Midwest... The median sales price of $170,200 was down 15.4% from April 2008 and basically flat with the prior month. Notably, the inventory of homes for sales increased to 3.968 million from 3.648 million as more homes were listed during the popular, spring selling season. The end of a moratorium on foreclosures from many lenders undoubtedly played a part in the increase as well. At the current sales pace, there was 10.2 month's supply on the market versus 9.6 months in March. The April level is equivalent to the supply level seen in October 2008... The April report is a mixed bag. The level of sales sits just above the 6-month average of 4.66 million units for the October-to-March period, which validates the stabilization argument. However, the increase in supply as the spring selling season winds down is a telltale reminder that pricing isn't likely to pick up markedly anytime soon and that the housing recovery will be an elongated process as the labor market remains weak and underwriting standards remain tight.

I\it looks like that home price appears to be stable now!

rightonmoney

thanks