The January U.S. home sales report is out and shows that sales have reached their highest level in a decade, despite limited supply and rising prices.

According to The Real Deal, deals on previously owned homes, which comprise the overwhelming majority of U.S. sales, hit a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 5.7 million in January, a 3.3 percent increase from December, according to data from the National Association of Realtors (NAR).

“Buyers are in force in 2017,” said Nela Richardson, Redfin’s chief economist.

“Demand for homes, measured by the number of tours that buyers take and the offers they write, is at its highest since January 2013.”

The increase in demand bested economist’s expectations, which forecasted an increase of only 1.1 percent for January, following a 2.8 percent decline leading into December.

Inventory increased 2.4 percent from December to January, as inventory dropped to its lowest level since the NAR began tracking supply numbers in 1999. According to NAR, it would take about three and a half months to absorb the supply of homes currently on the market.

And that low inventory is helping to push up median prices, which were up 7.1 percent year-over-year in January to $228,900.

As Daily Business News readers are aware, we continue to follow U.S. housing numbers closely, including recent coverage of NAR’s expectation that home sales, and prices, are expected to rise. That story is linked here.

For more on the manufactured housing industry’s reactions to these reports, and the impact of President Donald Trump on the economy, click here. ##

 

(Image credits are as shown above.)

 

Submitted by RC Williams, for the Daily Business News, MHProNews.

 

 

 

 

RC Williams,

for Daily

Business News,

MHProNews.