After falling by 2% in the previous month, existing home sales rebounded in September, with month-over-month gains recorded in all four major U.S. regions, according to the National Association of Realtors.
Total existing home sales, including single-family homes, townhomes, condominiums, and co-ops, rose by 7% from August to September, up to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 6.29 million in September. This marks a 2.3% decrease in sales from one year ago.
“Some improvement in supply during prior months helped nudge up sales in September,” says Lawrence Yun, NAR’s chief economist. “Housing demand remains strong as buyers likely want to secure a home before mortgage rates increase even further next year.”
Total housing inventory was 1.27 million units at the end of September, down 0.8% from August and down 13% from one year ago. Unsold inventory is at a 2.4-month supply, down 7.7% from August and down from 2.7 months in September 2020.
The median existing home price for all housing types was $352,800 in September, up 13.3% from September 2020. This marks 115 consecutive months of price increases.
“As mortgage forbearance programs end, and as home builders ramp up production—despite the supply chain material issues—we are likely to see more homes on the market as soon as 2022,” says Yun.
First-time buyers accounted for 28% of sales in September, down from 29% in August and 31% in September 2020. “First-time buyers are hit particularly hard by the historically high home prices as they largely do not have the savings required to buy a home or equity to offset such a purchase,” Yun says.
Single-family home sales stood at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 5.59 million in September, up 7.7% from August but down 3.1% from September 2020.
At the regional level, existing home sales rose by 5.5% month to month in the Northeast in September, but fell 8.3% from September 2020. Sales in the Midwest rose 5.1% month to month in September, down 2.7% from one year ago. Sales in the South rose 8.6% month to month in September, unchanged from one year ago, and sales in the west rose 6.5% month to month, down 3.0% from one year ago.
