All in all, a pretty good week. On Wednesday, the National Association of Realtors announced that existing
home sales for April were up 10% from a year ago. Median prices rose 10.1%, inventory was at a 6.6
month supply vs. 9.1 months a year ago, and distressed sales represented 28% of
all transactions down from 37% a year ago. Every trend is pointing in the right direction.
Then on Thursday, the Census Bureau announced that April new
home sales up 9.9% from a year ago, with a 5.1 month supply of inventory. Total inventory of 146,000 units remains
barely unchanged from last month’s figure of 144,000, the lowest number on
record since this data began being collected in 1963.
Adding the slew of good announcements, Toll Brothers (TOL), known
for building McMansions, released their Q2 financial results. Earnings beat estimates, and the highlights
included:
- · Orders up 47% from the prior year
- · Average prices up from $570,000 to $585,000, as compared to the prior year
- · Best traffic since 2007
- · Cancellation rate down sharply
Finally, Yahoo Finance ran a story with the headline “Don’t Look Know, But Here Comes Housing.” Of course, I’ve been advocating this for
months, but it’s nice to see the financial media realizing the recovery is
finally underway.
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