US: Existing Home Sales pull back, but trend remains positive – Wells Fargo
Existing Home sales dropped 2.2% during September. Analysts at Wells Fargo point out that despite the monthly drop, lower mortgage rates are providing a lift to the housing market, and resales are up 3.9% over the year. They added home prices continue to move higher.
Key Quotes:
“The monthly decline was owed to a 2.6% fall in single-family sales, while condo sales rose 1.7%. Sales fell in every region, but the Midwest saw the largest drop (-3.1%), perhaps a byproduct of the ongoing UAW-GM strike which began in September.”
“While buying conditions have improved, the continued lack of inventory on the market is likely limiting sales. Inventories fell 2.7% year-over-year to 1.83 million, the 4th consecutive decline.
“Solid demand and a shortfall of homes for sale is putting upward pressure on prices. The median single-family home price rose 6.1% to $275K, the strongest annual gain since early 2017.”
Author
Matías Salord
FXStreet
Matías started in financial markets in 2008, after graduating in Economics. He was trained in chart analysis and then became an educator. He also studied Journalism. He started writing analyses for specialized websites before joining FXStreet.
