October was a strong month for existing home sales, in part because of the disappointments potential buyers experienced this summer.
Existing home sales ran last month at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 5.60 million, the fastest pace since February 2007, as MarketWatch reports. The rate surpasses the 5.42 million pace that was expected for October. The sales are 2 percent higher than in September and 5.9 percent higher than a year ago.
According to NAR Chief Economist Lawrence Yun, buyers seemed to have rallied despite low inventory. October’s boost might be due to “pent up demand” from people who couldn’t buy a home during the summer.
And demand for homes was strong enough to overcome the familiar dynamic of tightening inventory that pushes prices up. There were 4.3% fewer homes on the market in October than in the same period last year, marking the 17th straight month of yearly inventory declines. The median price of $232,200 was 6% higher than in October 2015.
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