After a large increase in September, October’s numbers have been released and saw a much more tapered amount of growth. According to the most recent Existing Home Sales Report from the National Association of Realtors, October brought a 0.8% increase in existing-home sales. New home sales also saw limited growth, increasing by 0.4%.
Although Still Increasing, October Has Smaller Gains
From September to October, existing-home sales saw an increase of 0.8%. Although this is not the largest number, the month of September saw an exponential gain of 7% from August, so a more reasonable, scaled-back increase (if any) was to be expected. Regardless, this 0.8% increase represents a seasonally adjusted rate of 6.34 million sales.
Low inventory and rising prices may be continuing to stifle more substantial growth, however. At the end of October, inventory was only at 1.25 million units, down 0.8% from September and 12% from October 2020. Per Lawrence Yun, NAR’s chief economist:
Home sales remain resilient, despite low inventory and increasing affordability challenges
As Yun alluded to, prices also continued to rise in October, with the average closing price registering at $353,900, a 13.1% increase year-over-year.
Existing-homes were listed for 18 days, up from 17 days in September.
New Construction Finds Even Smaller Gains
New-home sales also saw an increase for the month of October, however these numbers were also slight. According to the latest report from the U.S. Census Bureau and the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, compared to the month prior, new-home sales in October increased by 0.4%, or a seasonally adjusted rate of 745,000 units. Compared to October of 2020 this is a stark decrease of 23.1% from 969,000.
Despite fewer sales occurring, median prices actually declined from the previous month, lowering to $407,700 from $408,800. Average prices still increased, however, from $451,700 in September to $477,800.
Bottom Line
With the end of the year quickly approaching, the market is still hot for the right clients. Connect with both your buyers and sellers to make something happen before 2022!
