RE Stats: 6/19-6/26

The U.S. housing market is showing signs of recovery after a difficult correction. Buyer demand has resurged in 2023, leading to an uptick in national home prices and new-home sales. Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell believes the housing market has reached a bottom and may start to move up.

One significant factor that has contributed to the housing market's improvement is the use of mortgage rate buydowns by builders. These buydowns, which help improve housing affordability, have been a key selling point for new-home communities compared to existing homes. However, as sales improve and builder margins potentially get compressed, these incentives may become less prevalent in the market.

While the housing recession in the new-home space is over, there are still downside risks, including economic concerns, the Federal Reserve's policy, and potential issues in the commercial real estate sector.

In Mesa County

• There are currently 410 active homes on the market in Mesa County. This is a 3% decrease from 425 last week.

• The average sold price YTD is $423,897 and the median sold price YTD is $385,000.

• There have been 56 price reductions in the last 7 days.

• There have been 79 new listings in the last 7 days.

• There have been 89 pending listings in the last 7 days.

NATIONAL MARKET UPDATE
 

Housing Starts shot up almost 22% in May, the biggest monthly gain since 2016 and 5.7% ahead of a year ago. Builders have lots of projects in the pipeline, so building permits rose a less dramatic 5.2% for the month.

The NAHB builder sentiment index hit 55 in June, signaling most builders see conditions as good. Small wonder. The NAR reports “newly constructed homes are selling at a pace reminiscent of pre-pandemic times.”

Even Existing Home Sales gained in May, up 0.2%, and, good news for buyers, the median price was down 3.1%. But prices shouldn’t crater, as there’s only 3 months of inventory, versus 5 months in a normal market.

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