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New Home Sales and Prices Both Increase in Lincoln NE According to Freshest Data

Posted on: May 06, 2013 07:21:07 AM

In February, there was an increase in closings of new homes in the Lincoln, NE market year-over-year, but the percentage boost was less pronounced than January 2013, indicating the market may be stabilizing. New home closings increased by 11.5% in February 2013 from a year earlier, after closings saw a 34.8% jump in January from the year earlier.

A total of 502 new homes were sold during the 12 months that ended in February, up from 499 for the year that ended in January.

New home closings accounted for 8.4% of overall housing closings. This marks a rise from 7.3% of total closings a year earlier. Following a year-over-year increase in January, closings of new and existing homes fell year-over-year in February.

Pricing and Mortgage Trends

In February, the average price of newly sold homes increased 5.1% year-over-year to $249,034 per unit. This rise follows a move from $216,478 per unit in January 2012 to $217,935 in January 2013.

The average mortgage size on newly sold homes saw a decline year-over-year in contrast to new home prices. In February 2013, average mortgage size slipped 7.8% from a year earlier to $200,528. Average mortgage size jumped 16.7% in January 2013 from a year earlier. Of the overall sale price, the percentage that was being financed declined 11.3 percentage points year-over-year to 80.5% in February 2013. In January 2013, there was a 12.5 percentage point hike from a year earlier.

Other Market Trends

Closings of attached units, as a percentage of new home closings, have grown from last year while closings of single-family homes have dipped. Attached unit closings gained from 15.4% of all closings in February 2012 to 17.2% of closings in February 2013. Conversely, the share belonging to single-family homes dropped to 82.8% of closings from 84.6% of closings.

There was a move in the average unit size of newly sold homes from 1,475 square feet in February 2012 to 1,469 square feet in February 2013. In January 2013, the average size of newly sold homes dipped 6.1% from the year earlier.

Foreclosures and real estate owned (REO) closings did not look to be a burden on the market. Out of all existing home closings, foreclosures combined with REO closings made up 20.8% of closings. They represented 26.4% in February 2012. The percentage of existing home closings involving foreclosures rose to 11.7% in February from 10.6% a year earlier while REO closings as a percentage of existing home closings declined to 9.1% from 15.8% a year earlier.

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