The pace of existing home sales fell 4.8% last month from July to a seasonally adjusted rate of 5.31 million, the National Association of Realtors said Monday.
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Solid job growth and low mortgage rates have boosted sales 6.2 percent in the past year.
Nela Richardson, chief economist at real estate broker Redfin, says most home buyers aren’t likely to be deterred by a small increase in mortgage rates.
The 1,384 sales for August, up fourteen percent, produced a cumulative sales volume of over $201.8 million, a jump of sixteen percent from past year . At the current sales pace, selling all inventory would take 5.2 months, up from 4.9 months in July but below the long-term average of 6 months.
The median existing home price for all housing types in August was $228,700, which is 4.7% above August 2014, when it stood at $218,400.
Housing inventory increased by 1.3% in August to 2.29 million homes, which is equal to a supply of 5.2 months, up from a 4.8-month supply in July and sharply above the total of 1.88 million homes in inventory at the end of December 2014. The price easing may have helped pull more first-time buyers back into the market.
One point she underscored was that at 32% in August, the share of first-time homebuyers continues to fluctuate and has not reached the historical average.
According to Freddie Mac, the average commitment rate for a 30-year, conventional, fixed-rate mortgage declined to 3.91% in August after climbing above 4% in July for the first time since November 2014. The unsold inventory is at a 5.2-month supply, up from 4.9 months in July.
Still, it’s not clear that a rate hike by the Fed – which may come at its next meetings in October or December – will have that great an impact on sales, at least in the short run. From our data, the percentage of distressed sales among the total sales for the Chicago PMSA was 13.5 percent in August. Sales of multifamily homes decreased by 1.6% year over year to an annual rate of 620,000 units. It was at 10.9 months at the end of August 2014.
Realtors logged 508 sales in August, a drop of 0.8 percent from 512 in August 2014. The median is a typical market price where half the homes sold for more and half sold for less.
In the Midwest, existing-home sales declined 1.5 percent to an annual rate of 1.28 million in August, but remain 5.8 percent above August 2014. Five percent of August sales were foreclosures and 2 percent were short sales. The median price of a home in Chicago was $270,000, up 0.2 percent over August 2014 when the median price was $269,500.
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The August 2015 statewide median sales price was $252,500, a 7.4-percent increase from the August 2014 median of $235,000. The appreciation was led by a 7.1 percent year-to-year advance in the West, while the South had a 6 percent increase. The median price in the West was $321,300, which is 7.1% above July 2014.
