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Sales of existing homes fell 35.4% year-over-year in November, reaching a 4.09 million seasonally adjusted annual rate, according to the National Association of Realtors. November’s existing-home sales data marks the 10th consecutive month of declines, a steep dropoff largely caused by rapid mortgage rate increases throughout much of 2022.
While sales are slowing, the national median existing-home price is on the rise, hitting $370,700 in November, up 3.5% from a year ago. Year-over-year home prices have been climbing for 129 consecutive months and are likely to inch even higher in the year ahead if inventory remains at its current lows.
November's inventory of unsold listings, as of the end of the month, fell 6.6% from last month, standing at 1,140,000 homes for sale. Compared with November 2021, inventory levels were up 2.7%. It will take 3.3 months to move the current inventory level at the current sales pace, well below the desired pace of 6 months.
Homes are still being sold above the list price due to a lack of inventory. Home buyers are still having to compete with multiple offers still being made on the same property. It takes approximately 24 days for a home to go from listing to a contract in the current housing market. A year ago, it took 18 days.
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