Home sales jump more than 4 percent in January

GlobalPost

US home sales rose by 4.3 percent in January, bringing good economic news to a battered real estate market, the Associated Press reported.

The mortgage crisis, which curbed home lending and led to a glut of unsold homes and a loss of consumer confidence, peaked when 3.1 percent of homes were unoccupied in the first quarter of 2008, according to the US Census Bureau

In a press release, the National Association of Realtors said, "Total existing-home sales, which are completed transactions that include single-family homes, townhomes, condominiums and co-ops, increased 4.3 percent to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 4.57 million in January."

Reuters reported that the supply was the lowest in seven years, point to a "nascent housing recovery." 

2.31 million unsold homes were for sale last month, "the lowest since March 2005." The newswire wrote that if January's pace holds, this means there is just a 6.1 month supply of homes for sale, the lowest since April 2006. Economists generally consider a 6 month supply to be ideal.

Lawrence Yun, an economist for NAR, said, “The uptrend in home sales is in line with all of the underlying fundamentals – pent-up household formation, record-low mortgage interest rates, bargain home prices, sustained job creation and rising rents.”

35 percent of the sales last month were discounted - either from foreclosures, short sales, or "distressed properties," said Reuters. 

Sign up for our daily newsletter

Sign up for The Top of the World, delivered to your inbox every weekday morning.