Existing Home Sales Crash To 16 Year Lows In October

US existing home sales plunged 5.5% MoM in October (worse than the 3.5% MoM exp), pulling sales down 8.76% YoY with mortgage rates near multi-decade highs...

The October collapse drags existing home sales SAAR to 3.75 million (well below the 3.86 million consensus) - the lowest since August 2010...

Single-family sales dropped to 3.41 million, with sales down in the Midwest, South, and West, and flat in the Northeast (every region was lower than a year ago).

"Home buying is difficult when mortgage rates have climbed to their highest levels since 2000, aside from a single month in 2023. As a result, home sales fell to their lowest level since August 2010,” said NAR Chief Economist Lawrence Yun.

Inventory edged up to 1.59 million units (a 5.1-month supply), giving buyers a bit more choice, but the median price still rose 0.4% year-over-year to $416,700 - the 40th straight annual gain. 

First-time buyers slipped to 29% of sales, and with the average 30-year mortgage rate in October around 7.3%, this has clearly had an impact on sales...

Yun noted optimistically that most of the country’s 88 million homeowners remain comfortable thanks to accumulated equity and that “there could be sizable pent-up demand if mortgage rates decline.” 

For now, though, the data show elevated rates continue to suppress transaction volume while prices refuse to break lower.