Existing home sales declined 3.2 percent in October to a rate of 5.12 million compared with 5.29 million in September, according to the National Association of Realtors. This is the second consecutive month of decline in sales; however, home prices continued the 11-month trend of double-digit year-over-year gains.
The national median existing home price was $199,500 in October, up 12.8 percent from October 2012. Total housing inventory declined 1.8 percent to 2.13 million existing homes available for sale, representing a 5.0-month supply at the current sales rate.
"The erosion in buying power is dampening home sales," said Lawrence Yun, NAR chief Economist, in a statement. "Moreover, low inventory is holding back sales while at the same time pushing up home prices in most of the country. More new home construction is needed to help relieve the inventory pressure and moderate price gains."
