Housing market activity for existing homes jumped 9.4% in September compared to August, according to the National Association of Realtors. But compared to September 2019, existing home sales have increased by 21%. Home prices are seeing double-digit increases as well across all US regions, with the national median existing home price at $311,800 last month—an all-time high. This is a 14.8% increase from last year. Total existing home sales in September hit 6.54 million at a seasonally adjusted annual rate despite increasing prices and decreasing inventory.
Regionally, all four regions showed double-digit price growth from a year ago. The Northeast had the largest gain of 17.8% followed by the West with an incline of 17.1%. The Midwest showed an increase of 14.8% and the South had the smallest price gain of 13.0% from September 2019.
September’s inventory figures fell 1.3% from last month standing at 1.47 million homes for sale. Compared with September of 2019, inventory levels dropped 19.2%. This would mark 16 straight months of year-over-year declines. It will take 2.7 months to move the current level of inventory at the current sales pace.
It takes approximately 21 days for a home to go from listing to a contract in the current housing market. A year ago, it took 32 days.
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