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HOUSING STARTS CONTINUE TO INCREASE Housing
starts continued to increase in July, rising 8.3 percent
to 1.978 million units compared to June's revised rate of
1.826 million and was 4.5 percent above the same month last
year, according to a U.S. Dept. of Commerce report released
yesterday. Single-family housing starts increased 8.5 percent
to a rate of 1.651 million units in July, an increase of
7.5 percent from the July 2003 pace. Multifamily housing
starts increased to a seasonally adjusted rate of 327,000
units, 7.5 percent above the June pace, but 8.4 percent
below the same period a year earlier. Construction of new
homes and apartments increased nationwide, posting an increase
of 15.8 percent in the West, 15.7 percent in the Northeast
and 4.3 percent in both the Midwest and South, according
to the report.
C.A.R. REPORTS MEDIAN PRICE POSTS 25.3 PERCENT GAIN,
SALES UP 10.4 PERCENT IN SECOND QUARTER The median
price of an existing, single-family detached home in California
set a new record during the second quarter of 2004 rising
25.3 percent to $461,730, C.A.R. recently reported. Closed
escrow sales of existing, single-family detached homes in
California amounted to 635,580 for the second quarter of
2004 at a seasonally adjusted annualized rate, a 10.4 percent
increase from 575,910 in the second quarter of 2003. C.A.R.'s
Unsold Inventory Index for existing, single-family detached
homes for the second quarter of 2004 was 1.9 months, compared
to a revised 2.1 months for the same period a year ago.
The median number of days it took to sell a single-family
home was 24 days in the second quarter of 2004, compared
to a revised 27 days for the same period a year ago.
LOW INTEREST RATES HELP BOOST HOMEBUILDER'S CONFIDENCE
Thanks to declining mortgage interest rates, homebuilders'
confidence in the market for new single-family homes increased
this month, according to the latest National Association
of Home Builders Housing Market Index (HMI). The HMI rose
to 71 in August, up four points from July's revised number
and equal to the Aug. 2003 level. The index gauging current
single-family home sales rose two points to 76, its highest
level since April of this year when it stood at 77. The
index gauging sales expectations for the next six months
rose four points to 78, its highest level since November
of 2003, when it hit 81. The index gauging traffic of prospective
buyers rose six points to 57, its second-highest level in
history.
LOAN PURCHASES DECREASE The Market Composite
Index, a measure of mortgage loan applications for purchases
and refinancings, decreased 6.3 percent on a seasonally
adjusted basis for the week ending Aug. 20 from 646.3 one
week earlier, according to a report from the Mortgage Bankers
Association (MBA) released today. On an unadjusted basis,
the Index decreased by 7.3 percent for the week ending Aug.
20 compared with previous week but was up 1.8 percent compared
with the same week one year earlier. The refinance share
of mortgage activity decreased to 40.4 percent of total
applications for the week ending Aug. 20 from 40.7 percent
the previous week. The adjustable-rate mortgage (ARM) share
of activity decreased to 32.1 percent of total applications
for the week ending Aug. 20 as compared with 33.6 percent
the previous week, according to the report.
C.A.R. Newsline is published by the CALIFORNIA ASSOCIATION OF REALTORS®, a trade association representing more than 135,000 REALTORS® statewide.
