US Existing Home Sales: Homes are selling incredibly fast – Wells Fargo

Data released on Thursday showed Existing Home Sales jumped 9.4% in September, surpassing expectations. Analysts at Wells Fargo explain the demand for homes is likely even stronger, with low inventories fueling competition and pulling prices higher.

Key Quotes: 

“Existing home sales jumped 9.4% in September to a 6.54-million unit pace. The increase topped expectations but hardly comes as a surprise. Sales of single-family homes rose 9.7% and sales of condos and co-ops rose 6.3%.” 

“Nearly every housing metric has been remarkably strong for the past few months as pending home sales and mortgage purchase applications pointed to a particularly strong gain in September.”

“Home sales would likely be stronger if there were more homes available for sale. There were only 1.47-million homes for sale at the end of September, which was down 1.3% from the prior month and 19.2% lower than last September.”

“With demand surging and inventories so lean, home prices continue to be pulled sharply higher. Lower interest rates typically lead to higher home price by themselves, as buyers can now purchase more home.”