The Good Brigade
On a seasonally-adjusted basis, home sales in the U.S. dropped 35.1% in November from a year ago, according to a Thursday report from Redfin, as elevated mortgage rates kept buyers and sellers on the sidelines.
The appreciation in home prices also lost momentum, the report noted. The median home sale price rose only 2.6% Y/Y in November, the smallest rise since May 2020, “when the onset of the coronavirus pandemic brought the housing market to a near halt.”
Also, with demand slowing down, new listings plunged 28.4% from the year-ago period, the largest slump since April 2020. In turn, the supply of homes gained 4.6% Y/Y.
“We do anticipate that mortgage rates will decline slightly further in 2023 as the Fed’s actions continue to bring inflation down, which should ultimately bring more homebuyers back to the market,” said Redfin Economics Research Lead Chen Zhao. “Still, we have a ways to go until we reach recovery mode, and we may see sales continue to ebb in the short term.”
In recent weeks, mortgage rates have started to retreat from their cyclical peak, though homebuyers are still reluctant.
Image and article originally from seekingalpha.com. Read the original article here.