·
New
home sales rose 3.7% in January to an annualized rate of 555,000
units. Last year, 561,000 new homes were sold. 1
·
The
median price of new homes sold in January was $312,900, up 7.5% from
January 2016. 1
·
The
number of new homes on the market, relative to the sales pace,
remained the same in January as in December, after seasonal
adjustment. The months’ supply figure in January of 5.7 months – the
time it would take to sell all of the new homes on the market if they
continued to sell at January’s sales pace – was half a month higher
than 2016’s average of 5.2 months. A year ago, in January 2016,
months’ supply for new homes was 5.5 months. 1
·
Construction
on private residential projects rose 0.5% in January, below the
average 0.8% average monthly increase of the past three years. The
value of construction put-in-place during the fourth quarter of 2016
rose at a 12.4% annual average, more than double the 5.3% increase
recorded for the year as a whole. 2
·
Consumer
credit outstanding rose 0.2% in January, matching its slowest monthly
increase of the last five years. Over the past year, consumer credit
rose 6.3%. Revolving credit dropped 0.4% in December, its largest
decline since late 2012. Consumer credit excludes credit secured by
real estate. 3
·
Household
net worth climbed by 6.3% from year-end 2015 through year-end 2016.
During the current economic expansion, net worth has grown at a 7.1%
average annual rate. 4
·
Owners’
equity as a percentage of real estate owned climbed to 57.8% at the
end of 2016, its highest share since early 2006. Its recessionary low
of 36.0% came in early 2009. A year ago, owners’ equity stood at 55.8%.
4
·
Households
held $9.754 trillion in home mortgage liabilities as of year-end
2016. That’s a 2.3% increase over year-end 2015. 4
·
The
average rate on 30-year fixed-rate mortgages in Freddie Mac’s survey
was 4.21% during the week ending March 9, up 11 basis points from the
previous week. February’s average was 4.17%; January’s was 4.15%.
October averaged 3.47%. All rates quoted have fees and points
averaging 0.4% to 0.6% of the loan amount. 5
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