Essex County February Housing Report 2/10/2023

As the Federal Reserve is trying to slow the economy, it was disappointed that the January Employment Report was much better than expected - 517,000 jobs added, twice the forecast, and the unemployment rate fell from 3.5% to 3.4%. The Federal Reserve increased the Federal Funds Rate by 0.25% to the 4.5% - 4.75% range and indicated it will continue to raise rates to slow inflation by slowing the economy. Wall Street thinks the Fed Funds Rate could rise to 6%. The conforming 30 year mortgage rate rose from 6% on Feb 2 to 6.5% today per Mortgage News Daily

Bottom Line for Singles and Condos:

Sales activity continues to slow as the Fed fights inflation by raising rates to slow demand.
January Year over Year Singles and Condos: Sold Prices fell -0.8%, Units Sales fell -33.7%, and the Number of Active Listings barely rose, +0.03%. Months of Inventory rose significantly as Unit Sales fell substantially even though Active Listings barely rose.

• To view data for every Essex County town, http://www.sullivanteam.com/Properties/Reports/Public/Charts.php
  
  
• To Download the full housing report go to:  http://sullivanteam.com/pages/EssexCountyHousingReports