Pending Home Sales Index

Pending home sales edged up in February. NAR’s latest pending home sales index rose 2.1% in the month to a reading of 82.1. January’s index was unchanged at 80.4. February’s figure was 1.4% below that posted in February of 2008. Read more >

Existing-Home Sales

Existing-home sales rose 5.1% in February to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 4.72 million units. First-time buyers accounted for half of all home sales during the month. Despite therise in resales, total housing inventory at the end of February rose 5.2% to 3.80 million existing homes available for sale – a 9.7-month supply at the current sales pace. The national median existing-home price was $165,400 in February, down 15.5% from a year ago. Read more >

New-Home Sales

New home sales increased in February to 337,000 seasonally adjusted annualized units – 4.7% above the level of sales in January but 41.1% below that in February of 2008. The inventory of new homes available for sale declined to a 12.2 months supply at the current sales pace. Still, the supply of new homes is up more than 25% from a year ago. Read more > 

Housing Starts

Housing starts rose 22.2% in February to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 583,000 units. The increase follows the historic low of 477,000 units in January. Most of the increase came from
multifamily units. Building permits – generally a reliable indicator of future starts – also increased 3.0% in February to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 547,000, but are down from 981,000 in
February 2008. Read more > 

Housing Affordability

Housing affordability continues to improve. NAR’s Housing Affordability Index (HAI) rose to 173.5 in February – the highest level since the index was created in 1971. Declining home prices coupled with lower mortgage rates helped push up the index reading. While affordability has risen, there are still a sizable number of people shut out from the marketplace because of stringent underwriting standards. Read more > 

Mortgage Rates

Mortgage rates also declined in March. The average 30-year fixed rate for the month was 5.0% – down from 5.13% in February. The Federal Reserve’s program of purchasing mortgage backed securities is helping drive mortgage rates down, thus making homebuying more affordable for those households who qualify for a loan. Read more > 

Employment

The economy continued to bleed jobs in March, as a net 663,000 jobs were shed and the number of jobs lost in February and January were revised higher. The national unemployment rate increased to 8.5% – its highest level in 25 years. There were some bright spots: the Education and Health Care sectors have added 450,000 payrolls in the past 12 months. Read more > 

Economic Growth

The economy contracted by 6.3% from the third to the fourth quarter of 2008. This is the final estimate of GDP growth based on more complete data. For comparison, GDP growth in the third quarter of last year was -5.0%. Federal government spending rose, but not enough to offset declines in consumer spending (personal consumption expenditures), spending on equipment and software and residential fixed investment all of which contributed to the negative growth number.  Read more >