Existing Home Sales Slip by 2% in September as Prices Continue to Rise

Existing-home sales decreased by 2.0% on a monthly basis in September, with a total of 3.96 million homes sold. This represents a 15.4% decline from September 2022, but despite that dip in sales, the median existing-home price increased by 2.8% year over year, reaching $394,300, according to the National Association of Realtors. The Northeast led national price growth with a gain of 5.2%, followed by the Midwest at 4.7%, the South at 3.1%, and the West at 1.8%.

Along with an affordability crisis, the housing market continues to face inventory challenges, with unsold listings up 2.7% from the previous month but down 8.1% from September 2022. The current pace requires 3.4 months to move available inventory, well below the desired six-month pace.

It takes approximately 21 days for a home to go from listing to a contract in the current housing market. A year ago, it took 19 days.

Compared to August 2023, three of the four regions showed declines in sales. Only the Northeast had an incline of 4.2%. The West region had the biggest decline in sales of 5.3%, followed by the Midwest with a dip of 4.1%. The South region had the smallest decline last month of 1.1%.

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