Existing-home sales rose by 9.4% in September to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 6.54 million, according to the National Association of Realtors (NAR). Sales rose year-over-year, up 20.9% from September 2019 (5.41 million).
Lawrence Yun, NAR’s chief economist, states that there is no shortage of potential buyers, but inventory is historically low as homebuilders struggle with supply. “Home sales traditionally taper off toward the end of the year, but in September they surged beyond what we normally see during this season. I would attribute this jump to record-low interest rates and an abundance of buyers in the marketplace, including buyers of vacation homes given the greater flexibility to work from home.”
The total housing inventory was 1.47 million units, down 1.3% from August and 19.2% from a year ago (1.82 million). The median home price was $311,800, up 14.8% from September 2019. This increase marks 103 straight months of year-over-year gains.
Distressed sales were less than 1% of total sales, the same as August, but down from 2% in September 2019.
Read the NAR release.
