More Evidence Housing Market is Slowing
It’s interesting that housing sales are slowing more in the east but still increasing in the west.
WASHINGTON - Sales of new homes fell for the second time in three months in January, providing further evidence that the nation’s five-year housing boom is slowing.
The Commerce Department reported Monday that sales of new single-family homes dropped by 5 percent to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 1.233 million units last month.
That was a bigger drop than analysts had been expecting and provided support to the view that the housing market, after setting sales records for five straight years, is slowing under the impact of rising mortgage rates.
The 5 percent January drop in sales followed a revised 3.8 percent increase in December and was the biggest setback since a 7 percent drop in November.
Despite the fall in sales, the median price of a new home was up in January to $238,100, compared with $229,000 in December. The median is the point where half the homes sold for more and half for less. The January figure was the highest since an all-time high of $243,900 set in October.
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| Go to Home - Most Recent PostsBucking the national trend, sales in the West posted an 11.3 percent increase in January after a 6.3 percent gain in December.