Real Estate Market 2016 Semi-Annual Review

Posted on July 26th, 2016

The National Association of Realtors has been reporting a strong, healthy real estate market in the first half of 2016. The number of sold homes rose at the fastest pace since 2007. One indicator of this is the average Days on the Market data. Homes are listed as active on the market for an average of 32 days with 49% selling in less than a month. The market started strong in the beginning of the year and continued with consecutive months of solid growth. From April to May, home sales grew by 1.8% to an adjusted annual rate of 5.53 million homes. National median sales price was also moved to an all-time high. With interest rates still at historically low rates, the second half of 2016 is expected to see continued strength in both volume and sales price. U.S. home prices have risen nationwide in 2016. Year-over-year sales prices have increased by 5.9% over summer 2015. Month-over-month data shows an increase of 1.3% since the beginning of the year. The S&P Case-Shiller 20-City Index measures the residential real estate values in 20 major metropolitan markets. The Index reports that home prices are 5.4% higher than they were a year ago. The U.S. housing market has been strong in the first half of 2016. Buyers are taking advantage of low interest rates and sellers are seeing strong increasing home values in most markets.