The National Association of Realtors (NAR) released their Existing Home Sales report for the month of August, and it showed that sales dropped 0.7%. Year-over-year the metric fell 15.3%. It is apparent that the number of sales of existing homes continue to be constrained by record low housing inventory levels and elevated mortgage rates.
The median prices of existing homes sold in August jumped 3.9% from a year ago to $407,100. According to NAR this was the third month in a row where the median price was above $400k.
When looking at housing inventory, this report showed that there were 1.1 million homes available which was a slight decrease of 0.9% from its previous reported number and down 14.1% from August 2022. Based on the pace of sales versus the amount of inventory there is about a 3.3 month supply of homes where around 5 is the normal amount of months.
“Home prices continue to march higher despite lower home sales,” Yun said. “Supply needs to essentially double to moderate home price gains.” Lawrence also noted, “Home sales have been stable for several months, neither rising nor falling in any meaningful way.”
It is apparent that the number of sales of existing homes continue to be constrained by record low housing inventory levels and elevated mortgage rates. But, in the face of lower sales it is evident that demand is not waning, which is causing home prices to stay resilient and steadily increase.
Source: nar.realtor