Last month’s rate of pre-owned home sales climbed to the highest level in more than a decade, with the Midwest leading the month-over-month gain. The supply of homes fell to a record low.
During November, sales were completed on
427,000 existing single-family homes, townhomes, condominiums and co-operatives.
That brought pre-owned residential home sales for the period that began on Jan. 1 of this year and concluded on Nov. 30 to
5.086 million units.
The National Association of Realtors reported the statistics Wednesday.
Applying adjustments for seasonality, the annual rate of existing home sales was 5.81 million —
the most robust rate in nearly 11 years.
The rate was an upwardly revised 5.50 million in October and a downwardly revised 5.60 million in November 2016.
“Faster economic growth in recent quarters, the booming stock market and continuous job gains are fueling substantial demand for buying a home as 2017 comes to an end,” NAR Chief Economist Lawrence Yun said in the report.
In the Midwest, November 2017’s seasonally adjusted annual rate was 1.42 million, climbing from the preceding month by 8.4 percent — the largest gain of any region. The South’s rate increased 8.3 percent to 2.34 million, and the Northeast was up nearly 7 percent to 0.80 million.
Only the West experienced a month-over-month decline: 2 percent to 1.25 million.
The U.S. single-family seasonally adjusted annual rate was 5.09 million, rising nearly 5 percent from October.
At the conclusion of last month, the U.S. inventory stood at 1.67 million. That worked out to a 3.4-month supply —
the fewest months since the NAR began collecting the data in 1999.
November 2017’s average sales price was $289,900, while the median price was $248,000.
First-time buyer share was 29 percent during the most-recent month, while all-cash sales made up 22 percent of all transactions.
“As evidenced by a subdued level of first-time buyers and increased share of cash buyers, move-up buyers with considerable down payments and those with cash made up a bulk of the sales activity last month,” Yun said. “The odds of closing on a home are much better at the upper end of the market, where inventory conditions continue to be markedly better.”
Market time averaged 40 days last month.
