US Existing Home Sales Surge In September As Price Acceleration Slows

Following August's surprise tumble in existing home sales (while pending- and new-home sales rose), analysts expected September to see a rebound on the heels of improving homebuilder sentiment on foot traffic and the rebound was dramatic. Existing home sales soared 7.0% MoM (vs +3.7% expected).

That is the biggest MoM rise since September 2020,but sales are still down 2.3% YoY at 6.29mm SAAR (still well above the 6.10mm expected)...

The median selling price of an existing house rose 13.3% in September from a year ago to $352,800.

That was thesmallest annual price increase since the end of 2020.

“Some improvement in supply during prior months helped nudge up sales in September,” Lawrence Yun, NAR’s chief economist, said in a statement.

“Housing demand remains strong as buyers likely want to secure a home before mortgage rates increase even further next year.”

There were 1.27 million homes for sale last month, down 13% from a year ago.At the current pace it would take 2.4 months to sell all the homes on the market, compared with an average of about 4 months before the pandemic. Realtors see anything below five months of supply as a sign of a tight market.