After two strong months of climbing increases, existing-home sales continue to soar! In August, the seasonally adjusted annual rate of 6.00 million, rising 2.4% from July. Sales rose 10.5% from August 2019, having a seasonally adjusted rate of 5.43 million. The Northeast saw the greatest improvement in comparison to July, but each of the four major regions experienced growth on a month-over-month and year-over-year basis.
NAR’s chief economist, Lawrence Yung, stated “home sales continue to amaze me, and there are plenty of buyers in the pipeline ready to enter the market.” He projects that gains are likely to continue throughout the remaining of the year due to “mortgage rates hoovering around 3% and continued job recovery.”
With this surge of positive activity, the total housing inventory has taken a hit. Inventory for the end of August came in at 1.49 million units. While it’s only a 0.7% decrease from July, in comparison to last year inventory is down 18.6%. This lack of inventory has been problematic in the past, but has intensified as the price of lumber continues to increase resulting from California Wildfires.
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References: Existing-Home Sales Hit Highest Level Since December 2006. (2020, September 22). Retrieved September 25, 2020, from https://www.nar.realtor/newsroom/existing-home-sales-hit-highest-level-since-december-2006
