Newsroom

November 21, 2017

Existing-home sales up 2% in October, down from a year ago

Despite a 2 percent increase in October, existing-home sales were still down year over year. NAFCU Research Assistant Yun Cohen said in a NAFCU Macro Data Flash report Tuesday that despite demand, "the lack of affordable inventory continues to constrain sales."

October's existing-home sales were 0.9 percent lower than a year ago, according to data released by the National Association of Realtors.

"The inventory constraint is expected to persist into 2018," Cohen said. "Recently proposed changes to capital gains taxes would disincentivize some home sales and also poses downside risk to housing supply."

Based on current sales, there were 3.9 months of supply at the end of October, down from 4.2 months in September; analysts consider six months of supply to be roughly balanced between supply and demand.

Inventory decreased 3.2 percent in October and was down 10.4 percent from a year ago. Inventory has declined year-over-year for 29 consecutive months.

The median existing-home price decreased from $247,600 in September to $247,000 (not seasonally adjusted) in October. This is 5.5 percent higher than the median price from a year ago. October marks the 68th consecutive month of year-over-year price increases.