April 2016 H OUSING N EWS R EPORT
FINANCIAL BRIEFS
New Home Sales Slipped, Existing Home Sales Rise in March The U.S. housing recovery — off to a modestly positive start in the first quarter of 2016 — will pick up in coming months, claims several reports. Sales of new single family homes fell slightly in March, decreasing 1.5 percent nationwide to an annually, seasonally adjusted rate of 511,000 units, but is 5.4 percent above the year ago estimate of 485,000, according to the latest Census Bureau data. Although sales of new homes fell sharply in the West, they climbed strongly in the South and Midwest. Sales in theNortheast remained virtually unchanged fromFebruary. The median sales price of new houses sold in March 2016 was $288,000, down from $297,400 in February. Meanwhile, inventories of existing home put up for sale are expected to improve this year, as more folks put their homes on the market in anticipation of buying another dwelling. The National Association of Realtors said existing home sales surged 5.1 percent to an annual rate of 5.33 million units in March. February’s sales pace was revised slightly down to 5.07 million units from the previously reported 5.08 million. And the S&P/Case-Shiller National Home Price Index rose 5.3 percent in February compared with February 2015, continuing the upward trend of recent months. In some markets — such as Seattle and Portland — home prices are rising at a double- digit pace.
Best and Worst Markets for Rentals A new RealtyTrac report ranks the best and worst markets to buy rental properties. The report analyzed single family rental returns in 448 U.S. counties each with a population of at least 100,000 and sufficient rental and home price data. Rental data was from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, and home price data was from publicly recorded sales deed data collected and licensed by RealtyTrac markets. The average annual gross rental yield among the 448 counties was 9.4 percent, down from an average of 9.5 percent in the first quarter of 2015. Counties with the highest annual gross rental yields were Baltimore City, Maryland (28.5 percent); Clayton County, Georgia, in the Atlanta metro area (25.8 percent); Wayne County, Michigan in the Detroit metro area (24.2 percent); Bay County, Michigan, in the Bay City metro area (21.2 percent); and Macon County, Georgia (20.6 percent). “The strong South Florida rental market continues to give solid returns to the investors,” said Mike Pappas, president and CEO of the Keyes Company, covering the South Florida market, where Miami-Dade County’s potential single family rental return was 8.4 percent with rents rising 4 percent annually and home prices rising 11 percent annually. “Our limited land, with growing population, give the investors an additional equity kick in rising prices.” Mike Pappas
SOURCES: Census Bureau, NAR, S&P/Case-Shiller
SOURCE: RealtyTrac
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