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October home sales declined since September, but remained higher than in October 2014.
Total existing-home sales, which are completed transactions on single-family homes, town homes, condominiums and co-ops, dropped 3.4 percent to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 5.36 million in October from September, according to the National Association of Realtors. Despite the decline, sales were still 3.9 percent above October 2014.
“New and existing-home supply has struggled to improve so far this fall, leading to few choices for buyers and no easement of the ongoing affordability concerns still prevalent in some markets,” Lawrence Yun, chief economist for the National Association of Realtors, says. “Furthermore, the mixed signals of slowing economic growth and volatility in the financial markets slightly tempered demand and contributed to the decreasing pace of sales.”
The median existing-home price for all housing types in October was $219,600, which is 5.8 percent above October 2014.
In October, properties typically stayed on the market for 57 days, but one-third of homes sold were on the market for less than a month.
“As long as solid job creation continues, a gradual easing of credit standards even with moderately higher mortgage rates should support steady demand and sales continuing to rise above a year ago,” Yun says.
