Housing Stumbling in Slowest Season for U.S.: Mortgages | Bedford Hills Real Estate
Just when the stumbling U.S. housing market could use a boost, it’s entering the slowest period of the year.
Online home searches, an indicator of demand, peak from March through August, according to Trulia, a real estate information firm that studied three years of its search activity. By September, as summer ends and children start school, searches fall below the annual average and decline further until December.
The seasonal slowdown means a turnaround in the housing market is unlikely for the rest of this year. After a robust 2013, new and existing home sales are down from a year ago even with inventories up and mortgage rates holding close to record lows. The pace of new-home purchases fell to the slowest in four months in July as rising prices and tight credit kept buyers at bay and forced economists to lower forecasts.
“The first half of the year has definitely been disappointing,” said Joel Kan, director of economic forecasting at the Mortgage Bankers Association. “There is upside potential but we don’t expect a sudden or sharp increase in home sales or originations in coming quarters.”
The MBA last month lowered its forecasts for purchase originations in the third quarter to $159 billion compared with $195 billion in the same period a year earlier. In January, the trade group had predicted the quarterly figure would reach $202 billion.
read more....
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2014-08-29/housing-stumbling-in-slowest-season-for-u-s-mortgages.html?cmpid=yhoo
Online home searches, an indicator of demand, peak from March through August, according to Trulia, a real estate information firm that studied three years of its search activity. By September, as summer ends and children start school, searches fall below the annual average and decline further until December.
The seasonal slowdown means a turnaround in the housing market is unlikely for the rest of this year. After a robust 2013, new and existing home sales are down from a year ago even with inventories up and mortgage rates holding close to record lows. The pace of new-home purchases fell to the slowest in four months in July as rising prices and tight credit kept buyers at bay and forced economists to lower forecasts.
“The first half of the year has definitely been disappointing,” said Joel Kan, director of economic forecasting at the Mortgage Bankers Association. “There is upside potential but we don’t expect a sudden or sharp increase in home sales or originations in coming quarters.”
The MBA last month lowered its forecasts for purchase originations in the third quarter to $159 billion compared with $195 billion in the same period a year earlier. In January, the trade group had predicted the quarterly figure would reach $202 billion.
read more....
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2014-08-29/housing-stumbling-in-slowest-season-for-u-s-mortgages.html?cmpid=yhoo
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