October 2023
U.S. sales of existing homes recently fell to a 13-year low, dropping 2.0% monthover-
month and 15.4% year-over-year as of last measure, according to the National
Association of REALTORS® (NAR), as surging interest rates and elevated sales
prices continue to make homeownership unaffordable for many prospective buyers.
Purchase activity is down significantly compared to this time last year, but rising
interest rates are also keeping many current homeowners from selling, causing
inventory to remain at historically low levels nationwide.
New Listings were up 32.0 percent to 1,441. Pending Sales increased 13.3 percent
to 1,053. Inventory grew 25.1 percent to 2,465 units.
Prices moved higher as Median Sales Price was up 4.4 percent to $270,000. Days
on Market increased 25.0 percent to 35 days. Months Supply of Inventory was up
43.8 percent to 2.3 months, indicating that supply increased relative to demand.
Total housing inventory going into October was at 1.13 million units, up 2.7% from
the previous month but down 8.1% compared to the same time last year, for a 3.4
months’ supply at the current sales pace, according to NAR. The shortage of homes
for sale is making it harder for buyers to find a home to purchase while at the same
time pushing sales prices higher nationwide, with the median existing-home sales
price rising 2.8% annually to $394,300, the third consecutive month of year-overyear
price increases.
Information courtesy of CMLS*
