Total existing home sales—including single-family homes, townhomes, condominiums, and co-ops—fell by 6.6% from January to February, following two months of gains, according to the National Association of Realtors’ monthly report.
The seasonally adjusted annual sales rate now stands at 6.22 million. Total sales rose 9.1% year over year, up from 5.7 million in February 2020.
“Despite the drop in home sales for February, which I would attribute to historically low inventory, the market is still outperforming pre-pandemic levels,” says Lawrence Yun, NAR’s chief economist. While he does anticipate a possible slowdown in growth as prices and mortgage rates rise, he still expects an overall strong showing.
“With more COVID-19 vaccinations being distributed and available to larger shares of the population, the nation is on the cusp of returning to a sense of normalcy,” he says. “Many Americans have been saving money, and there’s a strong possibility that once the country fully reopens, those reserves will be unleashed on the economy.”
The median existing home price was $313,000 across all housing types, up 15.8% from February 2020, marking 108 straight months of year-over-year price gains. Housing inventory remains at a record low of 1.03 million units nationwide, down 29.5%—a record decline, according to NAR. Unsold inventory sits at a two-month supply at the current sales pace.
Single-family home sales alone fell 6.6% from January to February, down to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 5.52 million. The median existing single-family home price was $317,000, up 16.2% YOY.
Existing home sales have risen across all four sales regions year over year. The West was the only region with month-to-month sales gains, up 4.6% from the previous month and up 20.6% from February 2020. Sales in the Midwest fell 14.4% month to month, but rose 2.3% YOY, while sales in the South fell 6.1% month to month and rose 13.6% YOY. Sales in the Northeast fell 11.5% from January to February but rose 13.2% from February 2020.
