Some 6.02 million houses and apartments have changed hands, at an annualized rate, while analysts were anticipating 6.20 million sales.
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Sales of existing homes fell more than expected in February in the United States, buyers being put off by both still very high prices and rising interest rates.
In February, 6.02 million houses and apartments changed hands, at an annualized rate, according to figures released Friday by the National Federation of American Realtors (NAR).
This is much less than expected, since analysts anticipated 6.20 million sales.
And that’s down 7.2% from January, and 2.4% from February 2021.
Buying a home remains difficult at the moment “as buyers are suffering a double whammy: rising mortgage interest rates and sustained price increases,” said Lawrence Yun, chief economist of the NAR, quoted in the press release.
“Some who previously qualified for 3% are no longer able to buy at 4%,” he adds, pointing out that “monthly payments are up 28% from a year ago. a year”.
The median price of houses continued to rise, for the 120th month in a row, or 10 years, unheard of, to reach 357,300 dollars, an increase of 15% compared to February 2021.
Inventories, on the other hand, have increased, and now represent 1.7 months at the current rate of sales, compared to 1.6 months in January.
30-year fixed-rate credit rose above 4% for the first time since May 2019, according to data released Thursday by U.S. home refinance giant Freddie Mac.
“With the Federal Reserve raising short-term rates and signaling further increases, mortgage rates should continue to rise over the course of the year,” the firm said.
“While demand for home purchases has moderated, it remains elevated due to low existing inventory, suggesting strong house price pressures will continue into the spring home buying season,” also anticipates Freddie Mac.
The real estate market had experienced an unexpected boom during the Covid-19 pandemic thanks, in part, to historically low interest rates, which led to rising house prices and a scarcity of properties available for sale. .
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