Newsroom

Back to the Newsroom
September 19, 2013

Existing-home sales highest since February 2007

Existing-home sales rose to a seasonally adjusted 5.48 million units in August – the highest pace since February 2007 – as home buyers closed on deals ahead of rate increases, according to NAFCU Research Assistant Doug Christman.

Existing-home sales increased 1.7 percent nationwide in August. "Existing home sales data tracks completed sales, which are initiated a month or two prior to the sale date. August buyers may have locked in mortgages prior to the recent increase in mortgage rates," Christman said in a NAFCU Macro Data Flash report. Year over year, existing-home sales were up 13.2 percent.

Sales increased in two of the four regions in August. The South had the largest growth, 3.8 percent, followed by the Midwest, where sales rose 3.1 percent. The West saw a decrease of 2.3 percent, and the Northeast had no change.

In terms of year-over-year sales, the Midwest reported the strongest increase, 18.9 percent, followed by:

  • the South, 13.5 percent;
  • the Northeast, 12.7 percent; and
  • the West, 7.7 percent.

The months of available inventory decreased to 4.9 months of supply in August from a downwardly revised 5 months of supply in July. August's figure for months of supply was 18.3 percent lower than last year at this time.

The median existing-home price, non-seasonally adjusted, decreased from a revised $212,400 in July to $212,100 in August – up from $184,900 a year ago. "Tight housing inventory and a decline in distressed-home sales continue to support existing-home prices," Christman said.

"The Fed's decision to delay tapering its purchases of mortgage-backed securities will continue to support the housing market, which is expected to remain a key driver of economic growth throughout the year," Christman said.

Related Resources

Add to Calendar 2024-04-30 14:00:00 2024-04-30 14:00:00 State of Consumer Credit: How Behaviors have Shifted and Trends in US Bankcard Benchmarks About the Webinar In an era marked by volatility and evolving credit trends such as historic inflation and the rise of BNPL, credit unions must adapt to mitigate risks effectively. Join the experts at FICO in exploring how to leverage FICO Scores to enhance competitiveness while maintaining stability and compliance.   Key Takeaways:  Learn about the latest in consumer credit behaviors and score distributions since the pandemic  Take a closer look at major US bankcard trends in comparison to the credit union industry, such as average card spend, balance, missed payments and more.   View On-Demand Web NAFCU digital@nafcu.org America/New_York public

State of Consumer Credit: How Behaviors have Shifted and Trends in US Bankcard Benchmarks

preferred partner
FICO
Webinar
Add to Calendar 2024-04-25 14:00:00 2024-04-25 14:00:00 ChatGPT: What AI can do for you! ChatGPT has been created with one main objective – to predict the next word in a sentence, based on what's typically happened in the gigabytes of text data that it's been trained on. Did you ever hear of the saying, “People fear the unknown?” Artificial intelligence scares people, but it is the future, and you need to understand the tools and resources it offers. It’s also about saving time, that’s what technology and in this case, artificial intelligence can do for you.  If you want to save time and have a better quality of life, this training is for you. Once you give ChatGPT a question or prompt, it passes through the AI model and the chatbot produces a response based on the information you've given and how that fits into its vast amount of training data. It's during this training that ChatGPT has learned what word, or sequence of words, typically follows the last one in a given context. During this webinar, ChatGPT: What AI can do for you, you’ll discover the background, purpose, usability, and the pros and cons. Don't miss this opportunity! Key Takeaways Learn the background of AI Understand the purpose of AI Identify the pros and cons    Register Now $295 Members | $395 Nonmembers(Additional $50 for USB)One registration gives your entire team access to the live webinar and on-demand recording until April 25, 2025Go to the Online Training Center to access the webinar after purchase »   Who Should Attend NCRMs Risk titles Education Credits NCRMs will recieve 1.0 CEUs for participating in this webinar Web NAFCU digital@nafcu.org America/New_York public

ChatGPT: What AI can do for you!

Credits: NCRM

Webinar
Add to Calendar 2024-04-25 14:00:00 2024-04-25 14:00:00 Unifying Two Different Executive Benefits Programs About the Webinar In part one we discussed how to retain key positions during a time of transition. In part two, we will look at how to combine executive benefits programs from two different organizations into a single high-performing program. Evaluating each program includes many different facets, from strategy and expense to performance and servicing. This session will provide important considerations, whether or not you have pending M&A activity.  Key Takeaways: Is the plan design both retentive and efficient?  Is the benefit expense properly mitigated?  Does the legal agreement reflect the board’s intent?  View On-Demand Web NAFCU digital@nafcu.org America/New_York public

Unifying Two Different Executive Benefits Programs

preferred partner
Gallagher
Webinar
Add to Calendar 2024-04-24 14:00:00 2024-04-24 14:00:00 Optimize Liquidity, Maximize Loan Growth: The Network Lending Advantage About The Webinar Join us to learn more about network lending, a cooperative model allowing credit unions to optimize liquidity and achieve loan growth. Discover how credit unions can participate in loan pools with other institutions, allowing them to diversify portfolios, access loans with potentially lower risk and higher yields, and expand lending capacity without necessarily needing a surge in deposits. Delve into how credit unions can pool their resources, set common underwriting and pricing standards, and collectively originate, buy, and sell loans to optimize liquidity management. Hear from your peers about best practices, case studies, and practical strategies to harness the full potential of network lending and how it's helped their credit unions. Don't miss this valuable opportunity to learn how to strengthen your credit union's position in today’s competitive environment.  Key Takeaways: How network lending differs from traditional lending  The benefits of participating in loan pools with other credit unions  How credit unions can set common underwriting and pricing standards and collectively originate, buy and sell loans to optimize liquidity management  Why network lending is critical to loan growth  Watch On-Demand Web NAFCU digital@nafcu.org America/New_York public

Optimize Liquidity, Maximize Loan Growth: The Network Lending Advantage

preferred partner
LendKey
Webinar