September Sales of Existing-Homes Decline

Median sale price for existing homes is $384,800

“The housing sector continues to undergo an adjustment due to the continuous rise in interest rates, which eclipsed 6% for 30-year fixed mortgages in September and are now approaching 7%,” says National Association of Realtors (NAR) Chief Economist Lawrence Yun in a recent press release.  “Expensive regions of the country are especially feeling the pinch and seeing larger declines in sales.”

September marks the eight consecutive month for declining sales of existing homes (including single-family, townhomes, condos, and co-ops).  Year-over-year, NAR notes that sales slid by 23.8% to 4.7 million existing homes, down from 6.18 million last September.

Even in this lesser-sales market, multiple purchase offers still happen—in fact, more than one-fourth of existing home sales are above list price because of low inventory. 

As a point of comparison, inventory levels of the 2008-2010 economic downturn were four times higher than those of today.

Other interesting September 2022 facts:

·        Median existing home price (for all housing types) was $384,800--up 8.4% from last year;

·        September 2022 set a record, marking 127 months in a row of existing home price hikes year-over-year;

·        Properties remained on the market in September 2022 for 19 days compared to August’s 16 days and 17 days last September;

·        22% of September sales were paid in cash—down from August’s 24%;

·        29% of homes were sold to first-time buyers; and

·        Investment property buyers or second-home buyers comprised 15% of September sales.

Post authored by Lora Bray.

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