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Updated: U.S. Existing Home Sales Fall 4.9% In January
By Kitco NewsMonday February 23, 2015 10:00 AM
Editor's Note: The article was updated to include comments from CIBC.
(Kitco News) - The winter chill appears to be impacting the housing market as fewer U.S. consumers bought homes in January, according to the latest report from the National Association of Realtors (NAR).
Monday, the NAR said existing home sales fell 4.9% in January to a seasonally adjusted and annualized rate of 4.82 million units, compared to December’s upwardly revised annualized rate of 5.07 million homes, the NAR said.
The report noted that January's sales were at their lowest rate in nine-months; however, the assocation added that sales last month were up 3.2%, compared to January 2014.
According to consensus forecasts, economists expected to see a slight fall in sales, to a rate of about 5.03 million.
Looking at home prices, the association said the median price for all existing housing types last month was $199,600, an increase of 6.2% from January 2014 prices.
The NAR also noted a fall/rise in inventories; the report said total housing inventories rose 0.5% to 1.87 million existing homes, which represented a 4.7-month supply.
Lawrence Yun, NAR chief economist, said, in a satement the housing market got off to a somewhat disappointing start to begin the year with January closings down throughout the country.
"January housing data can be volatile because of seasonal influences, but low housing supply and the ongoing rise in home prices above the pace of inflation appeared to slow sales despite interest rates remaining near historic lows," he said.
Some analysts are dismissing the disappointing housing data as severe weather and tight inventories appear to be impacting the sales numbers.
Peter Buchanan, senior economist at CIBC World Markets, said that although the housing market is failing to gain any strong traction, they are expecting a recovery in the long term, in the next two to three years, “as the improving job market encourages more first time buyers.”
By Neils Christensen of Kitco News; nchristensen@kitco.com
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