Existing home sales continued their fourth consecutive month of growth in September, rising 9.4% over August to an adjusted rate of 6.54 million, according to the National Association of Realtors.
The rate is up 20.9% compared with September 2019.
“Home sales traditionally taper off toward the end of the year, but in September they surged beyond what we normally see during this season,” NAR Chief Economist Lawrence Yun said in a statement. “I would attribute this jump to record-low interest rates and an abundance of buyers in the marketplace, including buyers of vacation homes given the greater flexibility to work from home.”
Existing home sales grew in every region, including 16.2% in the Northeast, 7.1% in the Midwest, 8.5% in the South and 9.6% in the West.
The median existing home price surged 14.8% year-over-year to $311,800, while housing inventory fell 19.2% compared with September 2019 to 1.47 million units.
The full NAR report can be found here.
