The U.S. housing market has started to recover from the most far-reaching crisis since the Great Depression. Sales of resale homes rose for the third month in a row in June, the National Association of Realtors reported. That hasn't happened since early 2004...during the boom.
We saw stocks jump on the news, with the Dow Jones average rising above 9,000 for the first time since early January.
Home sales rose 3.6 percent to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 4.89 million last month, from a downwardly revised pace of 4.72 million in May. Sales were up in all four regions of the country.
It was the highest level of sales since last October and beat economists' expectations. In another encouraging sign, the share of foreclosures on the market is shrinking. About one out of three homes sold in June was foreclosure-related, down from nearly half earlier this year.
The number of homes up for sale dwindled to 3.8 million. That's a 9.4-month supply, and another important sign of a recovery. When the market balances at a 7-month supply, prices should begin to stabilize. That probably won't happen until next year because of a backlog of foreclosures that have yet to come on to the market.
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