U.S. existing home sales likely to have continued to rise in December

The U.S. existing home sales data for the month of December is set to release tomorrow. According to a Wells Fargo research report, the pace of existing home sales is expected to have continued to rise in December to around 5.45 million. The housing market is now strongly a positive, and re-sales have been no exception, advancing from the fall in mortgage rates and rebounding sentiment.

In the last five months, sales have risen on a year-on-year basis after 16 consecutive months of falls. With rates unlikely to break out to the upside, this strength is expected to continue. However, the rate of rebound is not expected to accelerate, as there are not sufficiently available homes for sale. Inventories had dropped 5.7 percent year-on-year in November. The dearth of inventory is putting upward pressure on prices and capping further rebound in the buying environment.

“For 2020 as a whole, we expect resales to come in at around a 5.44 million-unit pace, up from around 5.36 million in 2019”, added Wells Fargo.