Robert Besser
27 Jan 2023, 02:08 GMT+10
WASHINGTON D.C.: In December 2022, US existing home sales declined to a 12-year low, but lower mortgage rates raised cautious optimism about the steady recovery of housing market.
Now, a report from the National Association of Realtors also showed that as sellers in some parts of the country resorted to offering discounts, median house prices were rising at the slowest pace since early in the COVID-19 pandemic.
Experts noted that the housing sector was driven into a recession by the Federal Reserve Bank's largest interest rate hikes since the 1980s.
"Existing home sales are somewhat lagging. The decline in mortgage rates could help undergird housing activity in the months ahead," said Conrad DeQuadros, senior economic advisor at Brean Capital in New York, as quoted by Reuters.
Last month, existing home sales fell 1.5 percent to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 4.02 million units, the lowest level since November 2010 and the 11th consecutive monthly decline in sales, which is the longest stretch since 1999.
However, the worst of the housing market decline could be over.
According to data from mortgage finance agency Freddie Mac, this week the 30-year fixed mortgage rate dropped to an average of 6.15 percent, the lowest level since mid-September.
While the rate is still well above the 3.56 percent average during the same period last year, it was down from 6.33 percent from the previous week and has declined from an average of 7.08 percent early in the fourth quarter, the highest since 2002.
In 2022, house prices rose by 10.2 percent due to a shortage of homes for sale, while housing inventory totaled 970,000 units. There was also an increase from the 880,000 units in 2021, with supply being at the second lowest level on record.
"Home price growth is likely to continue to decelerate and we look for it to turn negative in 2023. The limited supply of homes for sale will prevent a steep decline," noted Nancy Vanden Houten, US economist at Oxford Economics in New York, as reported by Reuters.
Get a daily dose of Nepal National news through our daily email, its complimentary and keeps you fully up to date with world and business news as well.
Publish news of your business, community or sports group, personnel appointments, major event and more by submitting a news release to Nepal National.
More InformationBEIJING, California: As the world's second-largest economy is still struggling to fully recover from the long-term effects of COVID-19, most ...
NEW YORK, New York - Bank shares were being bought up on Monday as U.S. industrial stocks kicked the week ...
WASHINGTON D.C.: To address summer airport congestion and low air traffic controller staffing levels, the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) said ...
OTTAWA, Canada: After a meeting between Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and US President Joe Biden, Ottawa has pledged to ...
NEW YORK CITY, New York: Deposits at small U.S. banks throughout the country dropped the most since 2007 after the ...
DETROIT, Michigan: In a briefing for investors and analysts this week, Ford Motor Co. reported that while its electric vehicle ...
PHNOM PENH, Cambodia: Two Cambodian opposition figures--- Yim Sinorn and Hun Kosal--- have been charged under the country's rarely used ...
HANOI, 28th March, 2023 (WAM) -- Coach Philippe Troussier has encouraged the U23 team of Vietnam to show their best ...
New Delhi [India], March 28 (ANI): India's first individual Olympic gold medal-winning shooter Abhinav Bindra is currently running his program ...
© Provided by Xinhua BOAO, Hainan, March 28 (Xinhua) -- The weighted real GDP growth rate of Asia in 2023 ...
Lahore [Pakistan], March 28 (ANI): In a recent move, the Lahore High Court (LHC) dismissed a plea challenging the appointment ...
Tamil Nadu (Madurai) [India], March 28 (ANI): The construction of the Kalaignar Memorial Library in Madurai is completed and is ...