FNC: Home Prices Flat in November; RE/MAX Reports Strong Sales
FNC, Oxford, Miss., said its Residential Price Index showed U.S. home prices flattened in November. A separate report from RE/MAX, Denver, said home sales posted a healthy December gain.
FNC said nationwide, home prices were unchanged between October and November, with gains in some markets offset by declines in others. Compared to a year ago, prices rose by 6.0 percent.
“Despite recent months’ more upbeat data on new home sales and residential construction, prices have been relatively stable since August, with month-to-month momentum showing no significant gains, neither decelerating nor accelerating rapidly,” said Yanling Mayer, FNC housing economist and director of research.
As of November, FNC said the proportion of final sales for foreclosed and REO properties comprises 13.4 percent of all total existing homes sales, up from 10.8 percent in October and largely unchanged from a year ago. In the for-sale market, average asking price discounts among closed sales remained unchanged in October and November at 4.0 percent.
On month-over-month basis, FNC reported November’s top up-markets as San Francisco (2.0%), San Diego (1.7%), Los Angeles (1.6%), Boston (1.4%) and San Antonio (1.3%). Prices continue to weaken in the Midwest region. In November, prices fell in Cleveland (3.3%), Detroit (2.2%), St. Louis (1.4%), Columbus (0.6%), Minneapolis (0.5%) and Chicago (0.2%). In Houston, prices dropped 3.3% between October and November following a moderate 1.4% decline in September.
As of November, cities experiencing double-digit year over year price appreciation were Miami (13.0%), Portland (12.9%), Denver (12.0%), San Francisco (11.3%), Phoenix (10.5%), Orlando (10.4%), Sacramento (10.1%) and Dallas (10.0%).
“Housing has long been held by low interest rates, but the latest job reports are rather encouraging,” Mayer said. “If the job market continues to pick up going forward, we may finally begin to see more fundamental demand factors, such as job creation and income growth, step in and drive the housing market in a more sustainable way.”
Meanwhile, the RE/MAX January National Housing Report said after two consecutive months with falling home sales, December roared back with 6.1% more sales than a year ago. On a month-over-month basis, the report said December sales came in much higher than expected at 22.5%. In all of 2015, nine months saw home sales higher than the same month one year ago.
“It’s possible that the TRID closing implementation rule caused November transactions to dip lower than normal, but now we see December bouncing back much stronger than the seasonal average,” said Dave Liniger, RE/MAX CEO. “Overall, 2015 goes into the record books as a very good year for residential real estate.”
