Home sales fell again in September as surging mortgage rates, rising prices discouraged homebuyers

Existing home sales fell 2% last month from August to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 3.96 million, the National Association of Realtors said Thursday. That’s just above the 3.9 million unit pace that economists were expecting, according to FactSet.

Despite the housing market slump, home prices kept climbing versus a year ago. The national median sales price rose 2.8% from September last year to $394,300. It slipped 3.1% from August. The weekly average rate on a 30-year mortgage moved above 7% in August, when many of the home sales that were finalized in September would have gone under contract. It has remained above that threshold since, surging last week to 7.57%, the highest level since 2000, according to mortgage buyer Freddie Mac.

While surging mortgage rates have shut out many prospective buyers, a chronic shortage of homes for sale continues to keep the market competitive, especially for the most affordable homes.

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Home sales fell again in September as surging mortgage rates, rising prices discouraged homebuyersSales of previously occupied U.S. homes fell for the fourth month in a row in September, held back by surging mortgage rates and a thin supply of properties on the market. Existing home sales fell 2% last month from August to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 3.96 million, the National Association of Realtors said Thursday.
Source: AP - 🏆 728. / 51 Read more »

Existing home sales fall in September as high mortgage rates freeze marketZachary Halaschak is an economics reporter at the Washington Examiner. Before moving to Washington, he worked in Alaska, covering politics, government, and crime for the Ketchikan Daily News. While there, Zach won the Alaska Press Club’s second-place award for best reporting on crime or courts for his coverage of a local surgeon’s alleged murder.
Source: dcexaminer - 🏆 6. / 94 Read more »