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.
New Listings were down 35.9 percent for single family homes and 1.3 percent for Condo/TIC/Coop properties. Pending Sales decreased 1.2 percent for single family homes but increased 13.1 percent for Condo/TIC/Coop properties.
The Median Sales Price was up 2.3 percent to $1,535,000 for single family homes but remained flat at $1,125,000 for Condo/TIC/Coop properties. Months Supply of Inventory remained flat for single family units but was up 27.3 percent for Condo/TIC/Coop units.
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.
