Low inventory, elevated sales prices, and decades-high interest rates continue to weigh on the housing market, causing sales of existing homes to fall to their slowest pace since August 2010. According to the National Association of REALTORS® (NAR), U.S. existing-home sales declined 4.1% month-over-month and 14.6% year-over-year as of last measure, as prospective buyers, faced with rising homeownership costs, wait for mortgage rates, and home prices, to drop.
- Single Family Closed Sales were down 19.1 percent to 1,386.
- Townhouse-Condo Closed Sales were down 11.1 percent to 384.
- Adult Communities Closed Sales were down 28.1 percent to 41.
- Single Family Median Sales Price increased 11.9 percent to $565,000.
- Townhouse-Condo Median Sales Price increased 17.3 percent to $398,750.
- Adult Communities Median Sales Price increased 4.4 percent to $522,000.
Inventory remains at historically low levels nationwide, with only 1.15 million homes for sale heading into November, a 5.7% decline compared to the same time last year, for a 3.6 months’ supply at the current sales pace. The shortage of available properties for sale has kept pressure on home prices, which have continued to climb despite the slowdown in sales. According to NAR, the U.S. median existing-home sales price increased 3.4% from a year ago to $391,800, an all-time high for the month, with annual price gains reported in all four regions of the country.
