Summer Home Sales Off to Strong Start

REAL Trends Housing Market Report| July sales jump 13.2 percent over July 2014

The REAL Trends Housing Market Report for July 2015 shows that housing sales increased 13.2 percent from the same month a year ago. All four regions reported unit sales rose from a year ago with the Midwest leading the way with an increase of 14.6 percent.

The annual rate of new and existing home sales for July 2015 was 6.989 million units up from a rate of 6.173 million in July 2014.

Housing prices rose an average of 2.4 percent from July 2014 showing continued moderation in home price increases.

“July housing sales jumped strongly and indicates that the housing market continues to have the wind at its back,” says Steve Murray, editor of the REAL Trends Housing Market Report. “The increase in the average price of homes sold continued to be moderate and was in line with increases for the past six months,” Murray added. “Foreign purchases and the rise in the first time home buyer segment appear to have contributed to this new found strength.”

Housing unit sales for July 2015 increased 14.6 percent in the Midwest, the best performance in all regions. Sales in the South region were up 14.1 percent, the West saw an increase of 13.4 percent, and the Northeast had an increase of 9.4 percent.

The average price of homes sold in July 2015 in the West region increased by 5.2 percent, the best result in the nation. The South saw average prices increase 4.5 percent, average prices in the Midwest were up 3.1 percent while the Northeast experienced a decline in the average price of homes sold with prices dropping 3.5 percent.

“Recent reports from the National Association of Realtors® about strong increases in pending home sales would seem to presage additional strong increases in homes sales for the next month or two,” says Murray.