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35 » VISIT US ONLINE @ DSNEWS.COM INCREASES IN EXISTING SALES AND PRICES SUGGEST HOUSING IS GAINING MOMENTUM IN SPRING Existing home sales are projected to fall between seasonally adjusted annual rates of 5.15 million and 5.47 million annually with a target of 5.31 million during April, according to Auction. com's April 2015 Real Estate Nowcast released in April. April's target annual sales rate for existing homes of 5.31 million is an increase of 2.3 percent from March and 11.8 percent from April 2014, according to Auction.com. "Among the factors contributing to the jump in March's existing home sales, pent-up demand from weak sales in January and February probably played a significant role," Auction.com EVP Rick Sharga said. "Consumer psychology is likely also at play here: with talk of the Fed hiking interest rates as early as June, buyers who've been sitting on the sidelines may have decided to buy now and lock in today's historically low interest rates." Sharga also noted while the 5.31 million target number for April is up both month-over-month and year-over-year, a truly healthy housing market would be on a pace for about 6 million in existing home sales annually. He said the annual rate of existing home sales will probably continue at about the 5 million range for the next year. Regarding the housing market this spring, Tim Rood, chairman of the Washington, D.C.- based Collingwood Group and former Fannie Mae executive, told Dirk Van on Westwood One's "Radio Light" program the market "seems to be moving in the right direction. We were concerned coming in to this spring buying season that we were at a bit of an inflection point or tip- ping point. As we saw things continue to kind of lament and slow down then there was a great risk that we would fall back and have kind of an echo housing drop, but it looks like we are still moving forward." April's Auction.com Nowcast indicated exist- ing home prices will fall in the range of $201,052 to $222,215 for the month. e targeted price of $211,633 is up by 5 percent from April 2014. e re- lease from Auction.com noted the existing home sales data for March released by the National Association of Realtors (NAR) found both the annual rate of existing home sales for March (5.19 million) and the existing home price for March ($212,100) were within the ranges Auction.com predicted a month ago in the Nowcast. e exist- ing home price represented an 7.8 percent increase from the previous March. "After a quiet start to the year, sales activ- ity picked up greatly throughout the country in March," NAR Chief Economist Lawrence Yun said. "e combination of low interest rates and the ongoing stability in the job market is improv- ing buyer confidence and finally releasing some of the sizable pent-up demand that accumulated in recent years." Recent improvements in the labor market could provide a solid foundation for further growth of the housing market, according to Auc- tion.com Chief Economist Peter Muoio. "Despite some wobbles in recent macroeco- nomic indicators, we've seen indications of an improved U.S. labor market, suggesting a firmer foundation for growth," Muoio said. "ese indicators include not only headline employment growth and unemployment rates, but also the pace of voluntary quits, the stabilization of labor force participation and even some nascent signs of stirring wage growth. e improved labor market is an essential underlying footing for healthy home sales, and March's results—and more broadly the green shoots of housing sales and price strength— appear to bear this out." THE FIVE STAR CONFERENCE WOULD LIKE TO THANK HOST OF THE 2015 FIVE STAR CONFERENCE The largest event in all of mortgage servicing, the 12th annual Five Star Conference will showcase more new features and opportunities than ever before, including new and streamlined academics, dozens of all new networking events, an expansion to the industry's largest Expo Hall, and a return of Safeguard Properties as our hosting sponsor. The future of the industry events arrives in September. Where Mortgage Servicing Meets Real Estate SEPTEMBER 16-18, 2015 DALLAS, TEXAS | #FSC2015 FIVESTARCONFERENCE.COM The U-6 unemployment rate for April 2015 was 10.8 percent, which includes total unemployed, plus all persons marginally attached to the labor force, plus total employed part time for economic reasons, as a percent of the civilian labor force plus all persons marginally attached to the labor force. April's U-6 rate was a full 1.5 percentage points lower than in April 2014, when it was 12.3 percent, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. KNOW THIS

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