US Existing Home Sales: Inventories continue to improve - Wells Fargo

Sales of existing homes ended a six-month slide and increased 1.4% to a 5.220-million unit pace in October, explained analysts at Wells Fargo. They noted inventories continued to improve relative to a year ago and that home price appreciation continued to moderate.

Key Quotes: 

“After a sharp drop in September, existing home sales topped expectations and grew 1.4% during October. The monthly gain, however, follows six consecutive months of declines. Resales are down 5.1% over the past year as rising home prices and higher mortgage rates have recently slowed home buying activity. 

“Inventories fell 1.6% during October, yet are 2.8% higher year-to-year. After 37 straight month of declines, inventories have grown in each of the past four months. Months’ supply also fell to 4.3 months, but is up from 3.9 months a year ago.”

“The median price of a single family home rose 4.3% year-over-year to $257,900. Relative to the robust gains seen in prior years, prices have eased recently alongside improving inventory levels.”