U.S. Existing Home Sales Jump To Eight-Month High In October

(RTTNews) - Partly reflecting strength in the Midwest, the National Association of Realtors released a report on Thursday showing existing home sales in the U.S. increased by much more than expected in the month of October.

NAR said existing home sales shot up by 1.2 percent to an annual rate of 4.10 million in October after jumping by 1.3 percent to a downwardly revised rate of 4.05 million in September.

Economists had expected existing home sales to climb by 0.5 percent to an annual rate of 4.08 million from the 4.06 million originally reported for the previous month.

With the bigger than expected increase, existing home sales reached their highest annual rate since hitting 4.27 million in February.

"Home sales increased in October even with the government shutdown due to homebuyers taking advantage of lower mortgage rates," said NAR Chief Economist Lawrence Yun.

Existing home sales in the Midwest led the way higher, surging by 5.3 percent to an annual rate of 990,000, while existing home sales in the South rose by 0.5 percent to an annual rate of 1.860 million.

Meanwhile, existing home sales in the Northeast were unchanged at an annual rate of 490,000, and existing home sales in the West slumped by 1.3 percent to an annual rate of 760,000.

"First-time homebuyers are facing headwinds in the Northeast due to a lack of supply and in the West because of high home prices," Yun said. "First-time buyers fared better in the Midwest because of the plentiful supply of affordable houses and in the South because there is sufficient inventory."

The report also said housing inventory at the end of October totaled 1.52 million units, down 0.7 percent from 1.53 million units in September but up 10.9 percent from 1.37 million units a year ago.

The unsold inventory represents 4.4 months of supply, down from 4.5 months in September but up from 4.1 months in October 2024.

NAR also said the median existing home price climbed 0.7 percent to $415,200 in October from $412,300 in September and jumped 2.1 percent compared to $406,800 in the same month last year.

"Rents are decelerating which will reduce inflation and encourage the Federal Reserve to continue cutting rates and pulling back their quantitative tightening," Yun said.

He added, "This will help bring more homebuyers into the market since the Fed rate has an indirect impact on mortgage rates."