Monthly Indicators
Low inventory, elevated sales prices, and decades-high interest rates continue to weigh on the housing market, causing sales of existing homes to fall to their slowest pace since August 2010. According to the National Association of REALTORS® (NAR), U.S. existing-home sales declined 4.1% month-over-month and 14.6% year-over-year as of last measure, as prospective buyers, faced with rising homeownership costs, wait for mortgage rates, and home prices, to drop.
New Listings were up 22.1 percent to 608. Pending Sales decreased 2.4 percent to 400. Inventory grew 19.9 percent to 1,797 units.
Prices moved higher as Median Sales Price was up 1.6 percent to $278,000. Days on Market held steady at 54. Months Supply of Inventory was up 20.0 percent to 3.6 months, indicating that supply increased relative to demand.
Inventory remains at historically low levels nationwide, with only 1.15 million homes for sale heading into November, a 5.7% decline compared to the same time last year, for a 3.6 months’ supply at the current sales pace. The shortage of available properties for sale has kept pressure on home prices, which have continued to climb despite the slowdown in sales. According to NAR, the U.S. median existing-home sales price increased 3.4% from a year ago to $391,800, an all-time high for the month, with annual price gains reported in all four regions of the country.
Housing Supply Overview
U.S. sales of new residential homes dropped 5.6% from the previous month to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 679,000, according to the Census Bureau. However, sales were still up 17.7% year-over-year, as the lack of existing-home inventory continues to benefit the new-home market. Meanwhile, the median sales price of new homes declined for the seventh consecutive month, sliding 3.1% to $409,300, as homebuilders trend toward building smaller homes to help offset rising costs and provide better affordability for homebuyers. For the 12-month period spanning December 2022 through November 2023, Pending Sales in the Western Upstate Association of REALTORS® region softened 1.0 percent overall. The price range with the largest pending sales gain was the $250,001 to $350,000 range, where sales increased 18.4 percent.
The overall Median Sales Price were up 8.3 percent to $289,000. The property type with the largest gain was the Single-Family Homes segment, where prices rose 7.3 percent to $295,000. The price range that tended to sell the quickest was the $150,000 and Below range at 52 days. The price range that tended to sell the slowest was the $1,000,001 and Above range at 74 days.
Market-wide, inventory levels went up 19.9 percent. The property type with the largest gain was the Single-Family Homes segment, where the number of properties for sale rose 22.3 percent. That amounts to 3.6 months of inventory for Single-Family Homes and 2.8 months of inventory for Condos.
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