Illinois’ NAR says US existing home sales pick up;30-yr fixed mortgage rises to 3.12%



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Illinois’ NAR says US existing home sales pick up;30-yr fixed mortgage rises to 3.12%

On Wednesday, US National Association of Realtors (NAR), a Chicago, Illinois-headquartered trade association of American real estate businesses having had more than a jawdropping 1.4 million members, said in a statement that US existing home sales surged for a third straight month in a row on November, though the NAR survey report had underscored an underlying tightening in supply chains which would more likely to spur up prices and brush aside first-time homebuyers with US home prices chartering at a record.

According to NAR survey report, US existing home sales climbed 1.9 per cent last month to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 6.46 million units, while a drawdown in lumber prices alongside the US Fed’s planned rate-hikes in 2022 and 2023, which in effect would perk up mortgage rates, seemingly had galvanized an increase in US existing home sales in November, suggested analysts.

However, over past twelve months through November, US existing home sales plunged 2.0 per cent compared to the same time a year earlier. On top of that, the survey report from US National Association of Realtors had underlined that a moderate pick-up in US homebuilding market last month was mostly catalysed by an increase in sales in Midwest region, while sales had reportedly surged in the densely populated West and South, though, US home sales remained unchanged in Northeast parts of the United States.

US existing home sales rise in November; Mortgage rates edge higher

Nonetheless, casting a caustic gloom on US home sales deeper into 2022, a report from Mortgage Bankers Association had unveiled earlier in the day that the volume of new mortgage applications fell to the lowest in more than two years last week, as the US Federal Reserve had signalled at least three rate-hikes each in 2022 and 2023.

In tandem, according to US mortgage buyer Freddie Mac, US 30-year fixed home loans had edged 0.6 per cent higher to 3.12 per cent during the week that ended on December 15, while US 15-year fixed rate mortgages ticked up 0.7 per cent to 2.34 per cent.