Hot House

December existing home sales jumped 10.8% to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 5.54 million, best since 2/18. That pushed up existing home sales in CY2019 to 5.344 million, up exactly 1,000 units compared to CY2018! Sales should rise only slightly in 2020. New construction will rise some, but existing sales are increasingly hamstrung by rising prices and inventory of just 1.4 million, the lowest level since at least 1982.