The National Association of Realtors said on Monday existing home sales declined 3.4 per cent to an annual rate of 5.36 million units.
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Sales of existing single-family homes declined 3.7 percent to an annual rate of 4.75 million from a month earlier. These existing home resales sold at a median price of $219,600 this month, meaning that median prices fell 0.9% from last month. Lastly, new home sales are also expected to grow from a predicted 505,000 this year to 590,000 next year.
But optimism was tempered by concerns over slowing economic growth and instability in the financial markets. Sales were up 3.9 per cent from a year ago.
2015 saw strong home sales throughout the year, so overall home sale levels remain high. That’s the 44th straight month of year-over-year gains, NAR reported.
The percentage of first-time buyers hit an all time high in August at 32%, but decreased in September to 29%.
He noted, however, that a few signs in the economy do bode well for home sales.
Northeast Existing-Home Sales- Annual rate of 760,000, unchanged from September and 8.6 percent above a year ago. October’s print was below the consensus forecast, which called for sales to moderate to 5.40 million units.
“The housing market is in decent shape but could be a lot better if people decided they were ready to move and listed their homes”, said Joel Naroff, chief economist at Naroff Economic Advisors in Holland, Pennsylvania.
Statewide, 12,881 homes sold last month, down 2.8 percent from October 2014 when 13,253 homes sold, according to IAR. Affordability, driven by tight supply, is restraining demand.
Home prices were up in all four regions.
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Although higher prices could sideline potential buyers, especially those wanting to purchase a home for the first time, they are boosting equity for homeowners, which could encourage them to put their homes on the market. “The new changes to FHA’s condo policy, including improving owner-occupancy requirements, streamlining the recertification process, and addressing restrictions on eligible property insurance for condos will go a long way in improving the ability for these young households to purchase a condo”. Comparing the 10 month year-to-date period, all regions of the state showed increases ranging from 3.8 percent to 7.6 percent relative to last year. The median price in the West was $319,000, an increase of 8.0% compared with October 2014. The median price in the Midwest was $172,300, up 5.7 percent from a year ago. Residential starts declined 11 percent to a 1.06 million annualized rate from a 1.19 million pace the prior month.
