Existing-home sales rose 14.5% in February, representing the largest monthly percentage increase since July 2020. All four regions of the U.S. saw a rise in month-over-month sales, but posted declines in year-over-year sales.
According the newest NAR Report, existing home sales have overcome a 12 month decline and have shown the highest monthly percentage increase since 2020.
“Conscious of changing mortgage rates, home buyers are taking advantage of any rate declines. Moreover, we’re seeing stronger sales gains in areas where home prices are decreasing and the local economies are adding jobs.”
NAR Chief Economist Lawrence Yun
While this is great news for the market, and shows there is still great interest, even with the rising interest rates, we are still experiencing extremely low inventory levels.
While there was an overall, small decline in median home prices, we did see the prices generally go up in the Midwest and South, but dropped slightly in the Northeast and West, which ends the streak of 131 consecutive months of year-over-year increases, the longest on record.
Bottom Line
We’re still seeing a general rise in home sales, and no real drop in the pricing, which is great for the market. The nationwide, historically low inventory levels are the biggest bottleneck right now, but there are still homes out there for sale, and buyers seem even more determined now.
