housing market nationally sees big summer increase

Sales of both new and existing houses were up in all markets across the country in July, according to a website that tracks residential real estate trends.

But what is now good for home sellers may prove challenging for the rest of the year as the amount of available properties once again begins to shrink.

Crunching the numbers from its monthly housing trend report, the website Realtor.com says that the latest upsurge in home sales has put the brake on some 10 months of national inventory growth.

The sales upturn, writes George Ratiu, senior economist with Realtor.com, reveals a tension in the market between “buyers eager to take advantage of lower mortgage rates and potential sellers concerned about slowing price growth.”

This means that while the supply of homes priced below the $200,000 mark last month declined by almost 10 percent, the supply of homes at or above $750,000 was up by 6.6 percent.

Overall, according to the latest numbers from the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis, the number of new homes sold monthly has increased by around 30,000 from last year at this time, with the South and West by far seeing the greatest number of sales.

In a new report from the London-based group Capital Economics, it was noted that builders are trying to respond to the demand for new homes, with building permits for single-family homes seeing a 3.1 percent increase in June.

By Garry Boulard

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