Home sales break record
By Jeannine Aversa
Associated Press
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| A new home is under construction in the Lake Claire neighborhood of Atlanta. Single-family home sales jumped to a 1.069 million annual rate, led by homes priced below $150,000.
Bloomberg News Service |
Sales of new single-family homes clocked in at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 1.07 million in November, representing a 5.7 percent jump from October's level, the Commerce Department reported yesterday.
"The housing market has become a perpetual motion machine," said Joel Naroff, president of Naroff Economic Advisors. "It just keeps on going and going and going."
Thanks to low mortgage rates, the housing market performed remarkably well during last year's recession and remains one of the bright spots of this year's spotty economic recovery.
"Mortgage rates have fallen like a rock this year, so financing conditions are good," said Stanley Duobinis, economist with the National Association of Home Builders. New-home sales will hit an all-time high this year, surpassing the record posted in 2001, he said.
New-home sales also are strong on O'ahu, with prices moving higher, too. The average new home cost $338,486 in April, a 22 percent hike from $277,117 a year ago, according to local sales data. The new-home sales mirror the strength in the resale market, where sales have continued to rise all year despite higher prices.
In November, the average nationwide interest rate on a 30-year fixed-rate mortgage was 6.07 percent, down from 6.66 percent for the corresponding month a year ago. This week, rates on 30-year mortgages dropped to a new low of 5.93 percent, according to a report Thursday by the mortgage company Freddie Mac.
This year's low mortgage rates have been feeding a flurry of refinancing activity. The extra monthly cash that consumers are saving by refinancing mortgages at lower interest rates is helping support consumer spending, which has been the main force keeping the economy going this year.
"Applications for refinancing, while off their peaks, remains high," Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan said in a speech last week. "Moreover, simply processing the backlog of earlier applications will take some time, and this factor alone suggests continued significant refinancing originations and cash-outs into the early months of 2003."
Another factor motivating home buyers is solid appreciation in housing values, which offers people an attractive investment, given the turbulent stock market, economists said.
The average price of a new home in November was $218,900, a 5.8 percent increase from the average price for November 2001.
The positive factors supporting consumer spending are helping to offset some negative ones, including a stagnant job market.
After cutting interest rates in November, the Federal Reserve decided this month to hold rates steady at a 41-year low of 1.25 percent. Economists believe the Fed will keep rates at that level at its next meeting in late January.
The Fed isn't inclined to cut rates again, in light of preparations being made by President Bush to push Congress to pass another economic stimulus package, economists said.
With an eye toward re-election, Bush plans to propose a tax-cut package next month aimed at jump-starting the ailing economy.
Senior White House officials, speaking on condition of anonymity, said Friday that Bush had not approved any plans, but the package probably would include acceleration of some tax cuts and breaks he won in 2001, as well as new benefits for shareholders' dividends. There also may be new tax breaks for investors and additional depreciation breaks for businesses.
To avoid a political backlash, advisers say they are likely to recommend that Bush no longer consider speeding up tax cuts for the wealthiest Americans.
He is expected to propose acceleration of the 2001 tax cuts for middle- and upper-income earners, but he might not include the top rate, which is 38.6 percent for income over $311,950, they said.
The economy, knocked down by last year's recession, has been getting back to its feet slowly this year. But economic growth has been characterized by a seesaw pattern.
While consumers have been keeping the economy alive, businesses — worried about profits and economic uncertainties, including war with Iraq — have been reluctant to make big investments, a key factor restraining the recovery.
In the housing report, sales surged 41.2 percent in November from the previous month, to a rate of 257,000 in the Midwest. In the South, sales rose 2.4 percent, to a pace of 475,000. But sales plunged 26.7 percent in the Northeast, to a rate of 44,000, and dipped 3.9 percent in the West, to a pace of 293,000.
In October, new-home sales fell 4 percent to a rate of 1.01 million, but even with the decline sales remained at a brisk level.
"The housing market has been somewhat of a savior for the economy," said economist Richard Yamarone of Argus Research Corp.
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