Housing sales accelerated in January 2013 to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 437,000, according to estimates released jointly today by the U.S. Census Bureau and the Department of Housing and Urban Development.
This was 15.6% above the revised December rate of 378,000 and the sharpest monthly increase since July 2008. It shows housing leading the recovery in the U.S. economy as consumer confidence jumped to 69.0 from 58.6 in January, according to the Conference Board’s index.
The median sales price of new houses sold in January 2013 was $226,400; the average sales price was $286,300. The seasonally adjusted estimate of new houses for sale at the end of January was 150,000. This represents a supply of 4.1 months at the current sales rate.
The S&P Case-Shiller index for the fourth quarter of 2012 showed that home prices jumped 7.3%, the third straight quarter of year-over-year gains in prices.
Stocks recovered from yesterday’s steep declines and the Dow was up by over 104 points or 0.76% to 13,888 by 3.42 pm. The S&P 500 was also up over 7 points or 0.53% to 1495 points.
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