Housing market crosses halfway mark back to normal
Hurricane Sandy reduced activity in the Northeast with October and November showing smaller gains relative to previous months compared with the rest of the country.
Construction starts dipped in November but remain strong and are 37 percent of the way back to normal.
Starts in November were at an annual pace of 861,000, up 22 percent year-over-year.
For the past three months, construction starts have remained solidly above 800,000–the highest level since September 2008.
Existing home sales rose once again in November up 6 percent month-over-month to 5.04 million, the highest level since November 2009 and 73 percent of the way back to normal.
Even better, “distressed” sales (foreclosures and short sales) represent a declining share of overall sales, making way for more “conventional” home sales.
The delinquency and foreclosure rate maintained a new post-crisis low.
In November, 10.63 percent of mortgages were delinquent or in foreclosure, down a tad from the 10.64 percent in October. The combined rate is at its lowest level in four years and is 41 percent back to normal.
The market hit bottom in 2009 and it has taken three full years just to get this far.
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