Housing Supply Overview
U.S. sales of new-residential homes fell for the first time in three months, sliding 0.3% month-over-month to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 662,000 units, according to the Census Bureau, as the previous month’s sales pace was revised up to 664,000 units from 661,000 units. Despite the decline, new-home sales were up 5.9% compared to the same time last year. The median new-home sales price also softened, dropping 7.6% year-over-year to $400,500 as of last measure. For the 12-month period spanning April 2023 through March 2024, Pending Sales in the Western Upstate Association of REALTORS® region went up 6.0 percent overall. The price range with the largest pending sales gain was the $250,001 to $350,000 range, where sales went up 25.9 percent.
The overall Median Sales Price improved 7.7 percent to $295,000. The property type with the largest gain was the Single-Family Homes segment, where prices went up 7.5 percent to $300,945. The price range that tended to sell the quickest was the $150,000 and Below range at 51 days. The price range that tended to sell the slowest was the $1,000,001 and Above range at 79 days.
Market-wide, inventory levels were up 26.6 percent. The property type with the largest gain was the Condos segment, where the number of properties for sale went up 29.5 percent. That amounts to 3.5 months of inventory for Single-Family Homes and 3.5 months of inventory for Condos.
Monthly Indicators
U.S. existing-home sales improved for the second month in a row, jumping 9.5% to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 4.38 million units, exceeding economists’ expectations and marking the largest monthly gain in a year, according to the National Association of REALTORS®(NAR). The rebound in home sales comes amid fluctuating mortgage rates and elevated sales prices, indicating there is plenty of buyer demand heading into the spring selling season.
New Listings were up 7.7 percent to 798. Pending Sales decreased 4.5 percent to 535, the eighth consecutive month of year-over-year declines. Inventory grew 26.6 percent to 1,825 units.
Prices moved higher as Median Sales Price was up 13.2 percent to $299,900. Days on Market decreased 11.3 percent to 63 days. Months Supply of Inventory was up 20.0 percent to 3.6 months, indicating that supply increased relative to demand.
The recent surge in home sales was likely due to a dip in mortgage rates in December and an increase in housing supply nationwide. According to NAR, total inventory grew 5.9% month-over-month and 10.3% year-over-year to 1.07 million units, for a 2.9 months’ supply at the current sales pace. Buyer demand remains robust, and the limited supply of inventory helped push the median existing-home sales price up 5.7% year-over-year to $384,500, the eighth consecutive month of annual price increases.
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