The National Association of Realtors (NAR) are reporting that existing-home sales fell in September after two consecutive months of increases. All regions showed declines with the Northeast region having the second worse showing of a decrease of 2.8% year over year.
Overall, existing-home sales fell 2.2% from August to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 5.38 million in September. Existing home sales are considered completed transactions which includes single-family homes, townhomes, condominiums and co-ops. Lawrence Yun, chief economist for the NAR stated the the lack of housing inventory is to play for the sales numbers. “We must continue to beat the drum for more inventory. Home prices are rising too rapidly because of the housing shortage, and this lack of inventory is preventing home sales growth potential.” With respect to inventory, there were 1.83 units available at the end of September. The inventory amount is 2.7% below what was available a year ago which was 1.88 million.
First-time buyers were responsible for 33% which is in line with the figures from a year ago. Mortgage rates are making it attractive for first-time home buyers as well. 30 year conventional fixed-rate mortgages decreased to 3.61%. Last year the overall average commitment rate was 4.54%. Yun stated “Mortgage rates under 4% are amazingly attractive for homebuyers. The rise in foot traffic as evidenced by the open rates of SentriLock key boxes shows growing buyer interest.”
Below is the regional breakdown of sales by region:
Northeast: Northeast sales were down 2.8% to an annual rate of 690,000. The median price was $301,100 which is up 5.2% year over year.
Midwest: The Midwest saw the biggest drop of 3.1% to an annual rate of 1.27 million. The median price was $213,500, which is an increase of 7.2% jump from last year at the same time.
South: The South saw a drop of 2.1% to an annual rate of 2.28 million. The median price was $237,300 which is an increase of 6.3% from one year ago.
West: The West had a decline of 0.9% to an annual rate of 1.14 million. The median price was $403,600 which is an of 4.5% from the previous year.
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