The National Association of Realtors reported that their index of Pending Home Sales rose 8.4% from February 2012 and was constrained only by the lack of inventory available for sale. Thinking about buying a home in 2013? This is not the same market where you can take your time and view many different homes. Home prices are moving up and the number of available homes for sale that are in good condition are moving fast.
Lawrence Yun, NAR chief economist, said limited inventory is holding back the market in many areas. “Only new home construction can genuinely help relieve the inventory shortage, and housing starts need to rise at least 50 percent from current levels,” he said. “Most local home builders are small businesses and simply don’t have access to capital on Wall Street. Clearer regulatory rules, applied to construction loans for smaller community banks and credit unions, could bring many small-sized builders back into the market.”U.S. home resales (the largest segment of the housing market) hit a three-year high in February and prices jumped, adding to signs of an acceleration in the housing market recovery.
More good news: Yun projects existing-home sales to rise about 7 percent in 2013 to approximately 5 million sales, which is near the current level of activity and the national median existing-home price is forecast to rise nearly 7 percent this year, while mortgage interest rates should remain historically low, but trend up slowly.
So, the industry experts are saying: 1) Good quality Inventory is moving fast and at 2) higher prices and 3) with mortgage lenders rates rising throughout the year. What does this tell you?
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