Cash Home Purchases, Housing Sector looking good, Memorial Day travel
May 20, 2016
Friday – May 20
CoreLogic reports that the share of homes purchased with cash in the first two months of the year hit an eight-year low from the same time period in 2008. For the first two months of 2016, cash sales averaged 35.6% of total home sales. Cash sales were 25% before the housing crisis and peaked in 2011 at 47%. The report went on to reveal that real estate-owned sales made up the largest cash sales at 59.2%, resales at 35.6%, short sales at 32.6%, while newly constructed homes were 15.2%
The housing sector continues to be a bright spot in the U.S. economy given low home loan rates along with modest seasonal inventory gains. The National Association of REALTORS® reported today that April Existing Home Sales rose 1.7% from March, the second monthly gain in a row. A surge in the Midwest and a modest gain in the Northeast offset smaller declines in the South and West. Sales rose to an annual clip of 5.45 million units in April, above the 5.40 million expected and up from the 5.36 million recorded in March. Existing Home Sales measure both the number and prices of existing single-family homes, condos and co-op sales over a one-month period.
Memorial Day weekend forecast statistics are hitting the wires ahead of the holiday weekend which begins on May 27. There are expected to be 38 million Americans hitting the roads or flying for the three-day weekend. Of the 38 million, 89% or 34 million will hit the road, up 2.1% from last year. Those travelling by air is expected to be 7% of the 38 million or 2.6 million, a 1.6% inrease. Those using alternate methods of transportaion, such as cruises, trains and buses will be 1.6 million, a 2.3% decline.
