Existing-Home sales fell even more than expected in November as mortgage rates hit a 20-year high to start of the month, according to the National Association of Realtors.
- M-O-M: Existing-home sales fell for the tenth consecutive month with a 7.7% drop to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 4.09 million.
- Y-O-Y: Existing home sales are down 35.4% compared to the same time last year.
More Than Expected. Economists predicted a smaller drop of 5.2% to 4.2M.
Prices. The median existing-home price was $370,700, down 2.1% from October and now down 10.4% from the June peak ($413,800).
- Year-over-year prices are still positive at 3.5% which marks the 129th consecutive month of year-over-year increases, the longest-running streak on record.
Inventory. Total housing inventory at the end of November was 1.14 million, down 6.6% from October, but up 2.7% from one year ago. Unsold inventory sits at a 3.3-month supply at the current sales pace, unchanged from October but up from 2.1 months in November 2021.
- Properties typically remained on the market for 24 days, up from 21 days in October and 18 days in November 2021.
South Still On Top. Regionally, the South continues to lead the way with existing sales at an annual rate of 1.84M, this is down 7.1% from October and is down 35.0% from one year ago. Despite the declines, this represents 44.5% of all sales activity in the country.
- The Midwest was number two with an annual rate of 1.08M followed by the West (700k) and the Northeast (530k).
- The South is also leading on price gains with prices year-over-year up 4.4% ($340,100) followed by the Midwest up 3.9% ($268,600), the Northeast up 3.5% ($394,700), and the West was last with a 2.0% increase ($569,800).
Analysis. Lawrence Yun, NAR Chief Economist, said housing was frozen in November but is showing signs of thawing. “In essence, the residential real estate market was frozen in November, resembling the sales activity seen during the COVID-19 economic lockdowns in 2020…The market may be thawing since mortgage rates have fallen for five straight weeks,” Yun added. “The average monthly mortgage payment is now almost $200 less than it was several weeks ago when interest rates reached their peak for this year.”