Home | Newsletter | Advertise
loading...

Existing Home Sales Are Up. What Does it Mean?

  • June 20th 2013

by Shilpi Paul

Existing Home Sales Are Up. What Does it Mean?: Figure 1

On Thursday, the National Association of Realtors reported that existing home sales rose by 4.2 percent in May. The Wall Street Journal’s Nick Timiraos published a few takeaways to note other interesting stats from the report and understand the implications.

Here are some of Timiraos’ major points:

  • Median home prices rose fast, up 15.4 percent year-over-year, due to low inventory. Lawrence Yun, NAR’s Chief Economist, declared the quick rise “too fast” and noted that additional inventory was necessary to slow down growth. Additionally, the high median prices may be because more expensive properties are being sold, while foreclosed property sales have declined.

  • That said, inventory is coming up. The number of homes listed for sale rose by 3.3 percent last month.
  • As is true in the DC area, homes are selling much faster than usual. 45 percent of homes that sold in May were on the market for less than a month.
  • Watch for rising interest rates to change the trends, and the cost of buying a home to increase.

For Timiraos’ full analysis, click here.

See other articles related to: nick timiraos, wall street journal

This article originally published at https://dc.urbanturf.com/articles/blog/existing_home_sales_are_up._a_few_takeaways/7228.

DC Real Estate Guides

Short guides to navigating the DC-area real estate market

We've collected all our helpful guides for buying, selling and renting in and around Washington, DC in one place. Start browsing below!

First-Timer Primers

Intro guides for first-time home buyers

Red Flags Revealed During a Home Inspection Top 5 Tax Breaks For Homeowners Tax Relief for DC Homeowners
Condo Fee Tutorial What is a Rent Back? 10 Ways To Tell If a Home Renovation is Well Done
Obtaining a Basic Business License For Your Rental What is an Adjustable Rate Mortgage? The Splitting the Rent Formula
How Much Cash Do You Need to Buy a House? Is This Condo Building Financially Healthy? Interest Rates and Mortgage Points
The Scoop on Mortgage Insurance

Unique Spaces

Awesome and unusual real estate from across the DC Metro

The Most Intriguing Loft in DC The R Street Firehouse DC’s One-Room House
Dupont Circle’s Old Frat House To Become Alley Home Best Transition From a Garage To a Home The Roundhouse
Tilden Gardens Restaurant-Turned-Home Hits Market Next Week Logan Circle’s Most Intriguing Garage Frank Lloyd Wright Goes Green in Kensington
Sears Bungalow Gets a Modern Makeover Old Town General Store Becomes Three-Level Home Making the Most of a Skinny House
A Studio 27 Renovation on Capitol Hill Once a Carriage House, Now a Home The Bank that Became a Home
From Pie to Hooch to Heroin to Home The Live-Aboards of Gangplank Marina A Treehouse with Rock Creek Park As A Backyard
Modern Tranquility in Sperryville Saddle Up For Stable Living Throwing a Curve at 550 Square Feet
A Modern Hilltop Retreat Tilden Street Restaurant Becomes Spacious Home Focus on Design: A Vastu Unit at 22 West
The DC Area’s First Net Zero Home A Yankee Goes Green DC’s First Carbon Neutral Home
Eco-Friendly Alley House Off H Street The Gym, The Stables and The Firehouse