Both high home prices and record low housing supply remain a hurdle for many buyers, causing pending home sales to dip for the fourth consecutive month. December pending home sales dropped 0.3% from November, according to CNBC. Pending sales remained 21.4% higher than December 2019 levels, making it the highest December reading on record. With high home prices and low inventory, sales are expected to increase as more homes hit the market. The National Association of Realtors chief economist says there remains a high number of would-be buyers yet to purchase due to the few homes for sale.
At the end of December, inventory stood at just 1.07 million homes for sale, down 23% year over year. At the current sales pace, that represents a 1.9-month supply. That is the lowest number of homes since the Realtors began tracking this metric in 1982.
Demand was uneven across the country, with the largest decline in sales seen in the Midwest. Sales there fell 3.6% for the month but were up 13.9% annually.
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