The National Association of Realtors (NAR) reports that the seasonally adjusted annual rate of existing home sales in December soared 14.7% to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 5.46 million from a total of 4.76 million in November.
December sales reverse a sharp decline in November, the first in over a year, which the NAR attributed to processing delays due to the new “Know Before You Owe” rules (TRID in mortgage-speak). Sales were 7.7% higher than in December 2014.
The consensus estimate called for sales to reach 5.2 million, according to a survey of economists polled by Bloomberg.
The NAR’s chief economist said:
While the carryover of November’s delayed transactions into December contributed greatly to the sharp increase, the overall pace taken together indicates sales these last two months maintained the healthy level of activity seen in most of 2015. Additionally, the prospect of higher mortgage rates in coming months and warm November and December weather allowed more homes to close before the end of the year.
Housing inventory decreased by 12.3% in December to 1.79 million homes, which is equal to a supply of 3.9 months, a sharp drop from 5.1 months in November, and 3.8% lower than the 1.86 million homes in inventory in December of last year.
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