Home sales numbers released Tuesday offered more sobering news: The number of existing homes sold continued their fall to levels last seen during the fallout of the Great Recession. At the same time, prices remain stubbornly high amid the highest mortgage rates in 23 years.
The National Association of Realtors reported that existing-home sales in October dropped below economists projections to 3.79 million. The median price last month ticked up to $391,800 – a 3.4% increase from 2022 but a 6.3% decline from September.
Since 2000, annualized home sales figures averaged about 5.3 million each month. Only three other months – all following the 2007-08 financial crisis – registered lower sales than October, including July 2010 which set the low watermark of 3.45 million.
Jim Sergent | USA TODAY