Existing Home Sales Reached a 7-Year High in 2013

Mortgage professionals may be interested to know that existing home sales reached a seven year high in 2013. Also, the total sales for existing homes were the highest they had been since eight years ago in 2006.

December of 2013 also found that completed transactions that included single-family homes, townhomes, condominiums and co-ops, increased 1.0 percent to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 4.87 million, according to an article in the National Mortgage Professional online magazine and the National Association of Realtors.

All in all, 2013 saw existing home sales of over five million, a figure that is over 9 percent higher than 2012. This surge in sales was the strongest performance since 2006 when sales reached a high of over six million at the end of the housing boom. Another interesting fact: First-time buyers accounted for 27 percent of purchases in December, down from 30 percent in December of 2012.

These existing home sales should hold, according to Steve Brown, NAR President and co-owner of Irongate, Inc., Realtors in Dayton, Ohio. The sales should hold this year in 2014 with jobs improving, even though the prices of homes are going up along with mortgage rates. The median existing single-family home price was $197,900 in December of 2013, up over 9 percent from last year.