The US housing market was up year-over-year but declined 1.7% versus October.
Existing Home Sales finished November at a seasonally-adjusted rate (SAAR) of 5.35M units. Tight housing inventory looms as a challenge, and has kept house prices high. November’s inventory marks the fifth consecutive month of inventory contraction. A healthy market typically averages 6 months of housing inventory, balancing the buyer/seller exchange; November’s figure came in at 3.7 months.
Existing home sales numbers for November 2019:
- EHS +2.7% YoY, vs November 2018
- EHS -1.7% MoM, vs October 2019
- SAAR: 5.35M units
- Median Price: $271,300 (+5.4% YoY)
- 93nd consecutive month of YoY price increases
- Unsold Inventory: 3.7 months (down from 3.9 YoY)
- Homes sold <1 month: 45%
- First-time buyers: 32% (up 1 point MoM)
NAR’s chief economist, Lawrence Yun:
“Sales will be choppy when inventory levels are low, but the economy is otherwise performing very well with more than 2 million job gains in the past year … The new home construction seems to be coming to the market, but we are still not seeing the amount of construction needed to solve the housing shortage. It is time for builders to be innovative and creative, possibly incorporating more factory-made modules to make houses affordable rather than building homes all on-site.”
Read the full article:
Existing-Home Sales Descend 1.7% in November | www.nar.realtor