Home sales rebounded in March; can gain last?
Associated Press
WASHINGTON
U.S. home sales bloomed in March after a brutal winter, a sign of possible newfound momentum for housing.
Sales of existing homes jumped 6.1 percent last month to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 5.19 million, the National Association of Realtors said Wednesday. The gains were solid enough to suggest that housing might be returning to stable footing after enduring a boom, a bust and a stubbornly tepid recovery over the past dozen years.
“We may be seeing the beginning of things getting close to what we would call a normal market,” said Tom Lawler, a housing economist.
Still, it remains unclear whether March’s robust gains can be sustained. Much of last month’s sales growth came from the Northeast and Midwest — the areas that were hardest hit by winter storms and that were bound to recover as the weather warmed. It’s possible that the March increase might amount to just a one-month blip.
That possibility makes next week’s release of the Realtors’ monthly report on pending home sales a crucial barometer of the industry’s strength.
On top of that, there might not be enough homes on the market to meet buyer demand. A shortage of available homes would limit sales.
Nationally, the real-estate market has just 4.6 months of supply, compared with six months in what economists consider a healthy market. The limited supply has caused prices to rise at a pace that hurts affordability. The median U.S. home price rose 7.8 percent over the past 12 months to $212,100. By contrast, average U.S. pay has risen just 2.1 percent over that time.