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NAR released a summary of existing-home sales data showing that housing market activity this February jumped 6.5% from January 2020. February’s sales of existing homes improved 7.2 % from February 2019. February’s existing-home sales reached a 5.77 million seasonally adjusted annual rate, the highest since February 2007.
The national median existing-home price for all housing types was $270,100 in February, up 8.0 percent from a year ago. This marks the 96th consecutive month of year-over-year gains.
Regionally, all four regions showed strong price growth from a year ago. The Northeast and the South shared the largest gain of 8.2% followed by the West with an incline of 8.1%. The Midwest had the smallest gain of 7.9% from February 2019.
February’s inventory figures were up 5.0% from last month standing at 1.47 million homes for sale. Compared with February 2019, inventory levels dropped 9.8%. This would mark nine straight months of year-over-year declines. It will take 3.1 months to move the current level of inventory at the current sales pace. It takes approximately 36 days for a home to go from listing to a contract in the current housing market, down from 44 days a year ago.
From January 2020, three of the four regions showed inclines in sales while the Northeast was the only region with a decline of 4.1%. The West region had the largest incline in sales of 18.9% followed by the South of 7.2%. The Midwest had a modest incline of 0.8%.
From a year ago, all four regions showed inclines in sales. The West had the biggest incline in sales of 11.5%. The Midwest had a gain of 8.2% followed by the Midwest with an increase of 4.0%. The Northeast had the smallest gain in sales at 2.9%.
The South led all regions in percentage of national sales, accounting for 43.7 % of the total, while the Northeast had the smallest share at 12.1%.
In February, single-family sales were up 7.3% and condominiums sales were flat compared to last month. Single-family home sales were up 7.3% while condominium sales were up 7.1% compared to a year ago. Single-family homes had an increase in price up 8.1% at $272,400 and condominiums rose 7.0% at $249,900 from February 2019.
