U.S. Existing Home Sales Spike To Eight-Month High In November

(RTTNews) - After reporting a significant rebound by U.S. existing home sales in the previous month, the National Association of Realtors released a report on Thursday showing another substantial increase by existing home sales in the month of November.

NAR said existing home sales spiked by 4.8 percent to an annual rate of 4.15 million in November after surging by 3.4 percent to an annual rate of 3.96 million in October. Economists had expected existing home sales to jump by 2.8 percent to an annual rate of 4.07 million.

With the much bigger than expected increase, existing home sales reached their highest level since hitting an annual rate of 4.22 million in March.

"Home sales momentum is building," said NAR Chief Economist Lawrence Yun. "More buyers have entered the market as the economy continues to add jobs, housing inventory grows compared to a year ago, and consumers get used to a new normal of mortgage rates between 6% and 7%."

The report said housing inventory at the end of November totaled 1.33 million units, down 2.9 percent from 1.37 million units in October but up 17.7 percent from 1.13 million units a year ago.

The unsold inventory represents 3.8 months of supply at the current sales pace, down from 4.2 months in October but up from 3.5 months in November 2023.

NAR also said the median existing home price was $406,100 in November, up 4.7 percent from $387,800 in the same month a year ago.

"Existing homeowners are capitalizing on the collective $15 trillion rise in housing equity over the past four years to look for homes better suited to their changing life circumstances," Yun said.

Next Tuesday, the Commerce Department is scheduled to release a separate report on new home sales in the month of November.