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Dec. 21 (UPI) — U.S. home sales slipped in November, the 10th-consecutive month of declines, new figures released Wednesday show.
Sales of existing homes fell by 7.7% November compared to October, according to the National Association of Realtors.
All four major U.S. regions recorded month-over-month and year-over-year declines. Those declines were strongest in the West, where prices fell around 46% over the last year.
Year-over-year sales fell by 35.4%, dropping from 6.33 million in November 2021 to 4.09 million last month.
There were 1.14 million homes for sale in the United States at the end of November, a 2.7% increase over November of last year. However, the pace of actual sales lags significantly.
The rate of sales was the weakest sales pace since November 2010, with the exception of a brief yet significant drop in May 2020 during the COVID-19 pandemic.
The median price for all types of existing-homes came in at $370,700 for November, up from $458,200 or 3.5% a year earlier.
The luxury home category, properties being sold for over $1 million, saw the steepest decline dropping 41% year-over-year. The sector saw the biggest gain in the first years of the pandemic.
On average, properties sat on the market for 24 days, up from 21 days in October and 18 days in November 2021.
“In essence, the residential real estate market was frozen in November, resembling the sales activity seen during the COVID-19 economic lockdowns in 2020,” National Association of Realtors chief economist Lawrence Yun said in a statement.
“The principal factor was the rapid increase in mortgage rates, which hurt housing affordability and reduced incentives for homeowners to list their homes. Plus, available housing inventory remains near historic lows.”
