Washington (Reuters) – The existing home sales of the US fell more than expected in January after three consecutive monthly increases, because high mortgage interest and house prices suppressed demand.
Last month, housing sale fell by 4.9% to a seasonal annual percentage of 4.08 million units, said the National Association of Realtors on Friday.
Economists interrogated by Reuters had predicted that the house slaughtered resumed to a percentage of 4.12 million units.
The sale probably reflected contracts signed in November and December. The average rate for the popular fixed mortgage of 30 years increased from 6.72% at the end of October to 6.85% in the last week of December, according to data from the mortgage financing agency Freddie Mac.
Home Resales rose in January by 2.0% year-on-year.
“The mortgage interest rate has refused to admit for a few months, despite several rounds of short -term interest rate cuts by the Federal Reserve,” said Lawrence Yun, the most important economist of the NAR.
“In combination with increased house prices, the affordability of homes remains a major challenge.”
The report contributed to a sharp decrease in the housing of single-family homes last month to suggest that residential investments weaken at the start of the first quarter after repairing in the quarter of October-December.
The mortgage interest rate has remained increased despite the federal reserve that lower interest rates by 100 basic points since September before pausing in January, while the economic impact of the government of the government of President Donald Trump such as rates, tax reductions and mass reductions is assessed as inflatary Economists considered by economists by economists, considered inflation with economic.
The mortgage interest rate follows the return on the 10-year-old Treasury memorandum, which has risen from the resilience and stubborn inflation of the economy. Most economists expect that the US central bank will only reduce once or at all this year.
The inventory of existing houses rose by 3.5% to 1.18 million units in January. The offer increased by 16.8% of a year ago. The median house price rose by 4.8% from a year earlier to $ 396,900 in January.
At the sales pace of January it would take 3.5 months to exhaust the current inventory of existing houses, an increase of 3.0 months a year ago. An offer of four to seven months is seen as a healthy balance between supply and demand.
Properties usually remained on the market for 41 days last month, the most since January 2020, compared to 36 days a year ago. First buyers accounted for 28% of sales, unchanged compared to a year ago. Economists and brokers say that a 40% share is needed for a robust housing market.
All-cash turnover was 29% of the transactions, a decrease of 32% a year ago. Distressed turnover, including preventments, formed 3% of transactions and crawl after floating about 2% in recent years.
(Reporting by Lucia Mutikani; adaptation by Andrea Ricci)
