NAR released a summary of existing-home sales data showing that November's housing market activity declined 7.7% from October 2022. November's existing-home sales reached a 4.09 million seasonally adjusted annual rate. November's sales of existing homes weakened by 35.4% from November 2021. Rapid increases in mortgage rates have slowed the housing market down to a sales pace mirroring the beginning of the pandemic in 2020. This would mark 10 consecutive months of home sales declines.
The national median existing-home price for all housing types reached $370,700 in November, up 3.5% from a year ago. Home prices have continued to climb, marking the 129th consecutive month of year-over-year gains.
Regionally, in November, all four regions showed price growth from a year ago. The South had the largest gain of 4.4%, followed by the Midwest, with an incline of 3.9%. The Northeast region grew 3.5%, followed by the West, with the smallest price gain of 2.0% from November 2021.
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.
From a year ago, all four regions had double-digit declines in sales in November. The West had the biggest dip of 45.7%, followed by the South, which fell 35.0%. The Midwest decreased by 30.6%, followed by the Northeast, down 28.4%.
Compared to October 2022, all four regions showed reductions in sales. The West region had the largest decline of 12.5%, followed by the South with a decrease of 7.1%. The Northeast region fell 7.0%, followed by the Midwest with a dip in sales of 5.6%.
The South led all regions in percentage of national sales, accounting for 45% of the total, while the Northeast had the smallest share at 13%.
In November, single-family sales decreased by 7.6%, and condominium sales fell by 8.3% compared to last month. Single-family home sales were 35.2%, while condominium sales fell 37.1% compared to a year ago. The median sales price of single-family homes rose 3.2% to $376,700 from November 2021, while the median sales price of condominiums rose 5.8% to $321,600.
Article Written By: Michael Hyman of NAR REALTOR Magazine