After yesterday’s New Home report, today we have Existing Home Sales which rose 0.8% over last month’s volume. This breaks a five month downtrend, but overall, Existing Home Sales are still down 7.3% from a year ago. Inventory is also down 1.3% and nationwide there’s only a 3.5 month supply of homes listed for sale, keeping us squarely in a sellers’ market. The median home price dropped 1% from November to $387,600, which is 4% higher than last year at this time. A whopping 31% of homes are being purchased by first time buyers and 18% by investors. Lower interest rates brought the cash buyer segment down 2% to 27% of all purchases. Lower interest rates also caused a spike in Consumer Confidence from last month’s 101 to a 110.7. This 10% increase drove the 10 Year yield back up above 3.9%. MBS are still flat. Have a great day!
