US new-home sales likely rose in March, Economists expect that sales rose 2.3 percent to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 450,000 last month, according to a survey by FactSet.
New-home buying dipped 3.3 percent in February. Harsh winter storms that month curtailed purchases in the Northeast, while buying also fell in Western states where prices increases during 2013 have hurt affordability.
SPRING REBOUND: Home sales usually improve with the start of the spring. More would-be buyers venture to open houses. Families with children often begin to look for homes so that they can move once the school year ends.
However, several indicators show that housing activity was muted last month.
The National Association of Realtors said Tuesday that sales of existing homes edged down 0.2 percent to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 4.59 million. It was the seventh drop in the past eight months.
Sales have fallen, in part, because few homes are for sale. There is a 5.2-month supply of existing homes on the market, much less than the 6-month level seen in healthier markets. More construction is needed to boost the supply, the Realtors' group argues.
But the improvement in building has been slight.
Builders started work on 946,000 homes at a seasonally adjusted annual rate in March, up 2.8 percent from 920,000 in February, the Commerce Department said last week. Those figures include both single-family homes and rental properties. Applications for permits, a gauge of future activity, fell 2.4 percent last month to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 990,000.
The National Association of Home Builders/Wells Fargo builder sentiment index was 47 in April. Readings below 50 indicate that more builders view sales conditions as poor rather than good.
Sales have also been modest because of affordability issues.
Rising prices over the past year and higher mortgage rates have made it harder for many Americans to afford a home. Real estate data provider CoreLogic says home prices rose 12.2 percent in the past year. Wage growth last year failed to keep pace with the higher buying costs.
The average rate on a 30-year mortgage was 4.27 percent last week. Rates surged about 1.25 percentage points from May through September, peaking at 4.6 percent. Those increases began after the Federal Reserve signaled that it would begin to pull back from its bond-buying program.
Those Fed bond purchases were designed to keep long-term interest rates low to spur more borrowing and boost economic growth. Since December, the Fed has reduced the size of its monthly purchases to $55 billion from $85 billion.
Economists expect that home prices will not appreciate as quickly as last year, when average gains exceeded 10 percent. Despite the seasonal hit by a cold winter, new-home buying is still on track to exceed the 428,000 total from 2013, when sales rose 16.3 percent to their highest level in five years.
New-home buying dipped 3.3 percent in February. Harsh winter storms that month curtailed purchases in the Northeast, while buying also fell in Western states where prices increases during 2013 have hurt affordability.
SPRING REBOUND: Home sales usually improve with the start of the spring. More would-be buyers venture to open houses. Families with children often begin to look for homes so that they can move once the school year ends.
However, several indicators show that housing activity was muted last month.
The National Association of Realtors said Tuesday that sales of existing homes edged down 0.2 percent to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 4.59 million. It was the seventh drop in the past eight months.
Sales have fallen, in part, because few homes are for sale. There is a 5.2-month supply of existing homes on the market, much less than the 6-month level seen in healthier markets. More construction is needed to boost the supply, the Realtors' group argues.
But the improvement in building has been slight.
Builders started work on 946,000 homes at a seasonally adjusted annual rate in March, up 2.8 percent from 920,000 in February, the Commerce Department said last week. Those figures include both single-family homes and rental properties. Applications for permits, a gauge of future activity, fell 2.4 percent last month to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 990,000.
The National Association of Home Builders/Wells Fargo builder sentiment index was 47 in April. Readings below 50 indicate that more builders view sales conditions as poor rather than good.
Sales have also been modest because of affordability issues.
Rising prices over the past year and higher mortgage rates have made it harder for many Americans to afford a home. Real estate data provider CoreLogic says home prices rose 12.2 percent in the past year. Wage growth last year failed to keep pace with the higher buying costs.
The average rate on a 30-year mortgage was 4.27 percent last week. Rates surged about 1.25 percentage points from May through September, peaking at 4.6 percent. Those increases began after the Federal Reserve signaled that it would begin to pull back from its bond-buying program.
Those Fed bond purchases were designed to keep long-term interest rates low to spur more borrowing and boost economic growth. Since December, the Fed has reduced the size of its monthly purchases to $55 billion from $85 billion.
Economists expect that home prices will not appreciate as quickly as last year, when average gains exceeded 10 percent. Despite the seasonal hit by a cold winter, new-home buying is still on track to exceed the 428,000 total from 2013, when sales rose 16.3 percent to their highest level in five years.
