Tag Archives: Demand

Based on company transactional data and Google search activity, Auction.com predicted Monday that existing-home sales in January will come in at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 5.06 million, just slightly above the National Association of Realtors' (NAR) December estimate of 5.04 million.

Fannie's 2015 economic forecast, released Thursday, is less a picture of a purely positive housing market than an expectation of an economy so strong across several key growth sectors that it will propel the national housing market to greater heights than in 2014.

In the latest Beige Book report released on Wednesday, the Fed said that contacts in most of its 12 districts expect faster growth in the year ahead, though some in the Dallas district are worried about a slowdown as the oil market suffers.

In a poll of senior mortgage officers conducted in November, Fannie Mae found consumer demand was down across all categories of home purchase loans, with only 42 percent of respondents reporting increases in demand for GSE-eligible loans, 43 percent for non-GSE loans, and 29 percent for government loans. Those shares compare to 53 percent, 65 percent, and 43 percent, respectively, in the third quarter.

Despite the fact that 30-year fixed mortgage rates dipped below 4 percent in October, the number of buyers looking to tour homes cooled off. At the same time, the rate drop triggered a hefty increase in signings last month, according to Redfin, which released its latest look at homebuying activity on Friday.

The Fed's Senior Loan Officer Opinion Survey, which covers a three-month period ending in October, shows credit standards on prime mortgages remained basically steady at 83 percent of reporting banks over the last few months. Of the nearly 14 percent that reported easing their lending criteria somewhat, the vast majority were large banks with assets of $20 billion or more, with only one smaller institution dialing down its standards.

At the national level, Realtor.com reported the median age of September's housing stock was 90 days, four days longer than August's median age as home shoppers back off for the season. Compared to last year, though, September's median inventory age was down three days, indicating demand is still there. The number of listings last month was approximately 1.87 million, down 2.7 percent annually and 7.9 percent monthly.

According to an analysis from Redfin, housing stock in all of its tracked markets totaled 563,377 in September, up 4.1 percent from August and 6.3 percent from a year prior. Even with the unexpected rise in inventory, analysts at the company expressed doubt that supply will be able to keep pace with demand in the coming months, especially with home affordability still looking favorable.

Despite an uptick between the second and third quarters, home sales in the state of Pennsylvania failed once again to hit year-ago levels, according to data released Monday by the Pennsylvania Association of Realtors (PAR).

Real estate brokerage Redfin reported a 2.2 percent monthly increase in customers requesting tours with the company's agents last month, about half the improvement recorded this time last year. "Though the September uptick in tour requests was not as strong as last year, this late season pickup suggests that housing activity will hold steady through November before the seasonal slowdown in home searches over the holiday," said Chief Economist Nela Richardson.