DES PLAINES, Ill.–A new report offers an overview of how housing performed during 2016.
Summit Valuations’ Residential Real Estate Market Overview also offers a projection for what the market will likely see during 2017.
"Looking back at the performance of the U.S. residential housing market in 2016, we see a lot of fluctuation in all six of the data categories that we tracked last year," said Summit's Chief Valuation Officer, Mark Melikian, author of the report. “The most significant of these was the year to date increase (January - December) in median price. At 8.7%, this is the greatest home price appreciation we've seen on a national basis in the past three years. According to statistics from the National Association of Realtors, the annual increase in median price during 2014 was 5.7%, in 2015 it was 6.8%."
Among the findings in the report:
- The median sales price of an existing home was $213,700 in January. It peaked at $247,600 and ended the year higher at $232,200.
- The seasonally adjusted annual rate of homes sold began the year at 5,470,000, dropped to a low of 5,070,000 in February, then ended the year higher at a rate of 5,490,000 homes sold.
- There was a four-month supply of existing homes for sale at the beginning of the year. It rose steadily to a high of 4.7 months in May and July, then dropped to its year-end level of 3.6 months.
- The pending home sales index in January was 105.4, it spiked to 115 in April and has ended the year higher at 109.
- The unemployment rate started the year at 4.9%, rose to 5% in March, April, and September, then went down to 4.7% at the end of the year.
- Mortgage interest rates for a 30-year fixed rate averaged 3.87% in January, dropped to 3.44% in July and August, then increased to end the year at 4.2%.
"With housing starts remaining at a relatively low level and inventory levels at a year-long low, we can expect to see fewer transactions coupled with price appreciation into the first quarter of 2017," Melikian said. "However, a significant move in mortgage interest rates will likely have an impact on the rate of sales and, longer-term, could impact housing prices. These statistics will continue to be presented and analyzed in subsequent reports."
According to Summit Valuations, on a regional level in December, the South had the highest number of existing home sales and the West had the highest median price. The Northeast, Midwest and West experienced declines in the number of seasonally adjusted existing home sales while the South remained level. The Northeast experienced the highest increase in median sales price at 2.8%, month over month.