The housing supply tightened in November, causing existing home sales to decrease after hitting their highest level of the year in October, according to the National Association of Realtors.
Total existing-home sales fell 6.1 percent to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 4.93 million in November, down from 5.25 million in October. This is the lowest sales rate since May, when sales were 4.91 million, but it is still 2.1 percent higher than November 2013.
Although interest rates were at their lowest levels of the year in November, housing inventory began its seasonal decline, said Lawrence Yun, NAR chief economist, in a statement.
Total housing inventory at the end of November fell 6.7 percent to 2.09 million existing homes available for sale, or a 5.1-month supply at the current sales pace.
“Lagging homebuilding activity continues to hamstring overall housing supply and is still too low in relation to this year’s promising job growth,” Yun said. “Much faster price and rent appreciation—easily exceeding wage growth—will occur next year unless new construction picks up measurably.”
The median existing-home price in November was $205,300, or 5 percent above November 2013. This is the 33rd consecutive month of year-over-year gains.
