Sale Prices Continue to Go Up

It is possible that you are skeptical when I claim that prices are heading higher. List prices have been moving up for several months but sales prices, not so much. Until now that is. Look at the daily chart below:

The $264 we hit in the middle of January is now well behind us and we are threatening to breach the $274 level. We may hit some resistance at this level, but there is also positive news coming from the percent of list department. Right now homes are closing for an average of 97,2% of list. This is well up from the 96.5% we saw during January and the best reading since October.

The Federal Reserve will not like these signs as they want prices to come down. This may result in interest rates moving higher again. This may suppress demand, but it may also make buyers think current rates are better than future rates, justifying a purchase decision now rather than later. That could be a wise move if prices and rates both rise.