December existing-home sales down slightly, 1.5% lower than November
In a month that’s traditionally the slowest of the year, it’s not surprising that existing-home sales lagged in December for the 11th consecutive month. Three of the four major regions across the U.S. saw a slight decrease according to the latest existing-home sales report from the National Association of Realtors® (NAR). Total existing-home sales were down 1.5% from November.
All four regions saw declines in existing-home sales activity in December from the year before, but activity was similar to where it was in November, if slightly lower:
- Northeast: Down 1.9% to an annual rate of 520,000, down 28.8% from December 2021
- Midwest: Down 1.0% to an annual rate of 1,010,000, down 30.3% from December 2021
- South: Down 2.2% to an annual rate of 1,800,000, down 33.1% from December 2021
- West: Unchanged at 0.0% with an annual rate of 690,000, down 43.4% from December 2021
“December was another difficult month for buyers, who continue to face limited inventory and high mortgage rates,” said Lawrence Yun, Chief Economist at NAR. “However, expect sales to pick up again soon since mortgage rates have markedly declined after peaking late last year.”
Have we hit bottom and poised to move up?
It’s notable that purchase activity was only slightly down from November, during the slowest month of the year. As rates have been hovering in the mid-6% range for much of December, it feels like more buyers were in the market than would be expected. Overall, existing-home sales reached 5.03 million in 2022, which was down 17.8% from the heyday of the pandemic-fueled housing market of 2021.
Month | Month-over-month | Year-over-year | Seasonally Adjusted Annual Rate |
Up 6.7% | Down 2.3% | 6.5 million | |
Down 7.2% | Down 2.4% | 6.02 million | |
Down 2.7% | Down 4.5% | 5.77 million | |
Down 2.4% | Down 5.9% | 5.61 million | |
Down 3.4% | Down 8.6% | 5.41 million | |
Down 5.4% | Down 14.2% | 5.12 million | |
Down 5.9% | Down 20.2% | 4.81 million | |
Down 0.4% | Down 19.9% | 4.80 million | |
Down 1.5% | Down 23.8% | 4.71 million | |
Down 5.9% | Down 28.4% | 4.43 million | |
Down 7.7% | Down 35.4% | 4.09 million | |
December | Down 1.5% | Down 34.0% | 4.02 million |
Home prices coming down
The median single-family home price in December came in at $366,900, slightly lower than the $370,700 mark in November. This was the sixth straight month of home price decreases, good news for home affordability. This marks an increase of 2.3% from December 2021, an amazing 130th consecutive month of year-over-year increases.
"Home prices nationwide are still positive, though mildly,” Yun notes. “Markets in roughly half of the country are likely to offer potential buyers discounted prices compared to last year.”
Month | Median existing-home price | Month-over-month | Year-over-year |
$350,300 | Down 2.2% | Up 15.4% | |
$357,300 | Up 2.0% | Up 15.0% | |
$375,300 | Up 5.0% | Up 15.1% | |
$391,200 | Up 4.2% | Up 10.8% | |
$407,600 | Up 4.2% | Up 14.8% | |
$416,000 | Up 2.1% | Up 13.4% | |
$403,800 | Down 2.9% | Up 10.8% | |
$389,500 | Down 3.5% | Up 7.7% | |
$384,800 | Down 1.2% | Up 8.4% | |
$379,100 | Down 1.5% | Up 6.6% | |
$370,700 | Down 2.2% | Up 3.5% | |
December | $366,900 | Down 1.0% | Up 2.3% |
Housing inventory was down 13.4% from November at 970,000 units. However, that is up 10.2% from December of last year. That represent a 2.9-month supply of unsold inventory at the current sales pace, up from 1.7-month supply in December of last year. Properties are sitting on the market for 26 days on average, up from 24 days in November and 19 days from December 2021. That’s great news for buyers who won’t have to deal with a highly competitive market like they saw over the last few years.
Source: https://www.nar.realtor/newsroom/existing-home-sales-receded-1-5-in-december