Streak Continues For Existing Home Price Increases
The National Association of Realtors (NAR) reported on Wednesday that November marked the 117th straight month of year-over-year increases in housing prices across the nation, the longest-running streak on record.
Lawrence Yun, the NAR’s chief economist, cites “near record-low supply levels” and “labor shortages” as hindrances to the home sales market, which has seen prices rise. The current months-long streak of year-over-year home price increases marks the longest-running streak on record.
Existing home sales rose 2% in November from October to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 6.5 million. Compared to a year ago, the unsold homes inventory decreased by 13.3% to 1.1 million. According to NAR, that decrease is equivalent to approximately two months of sales.
NAR also recorded a median existing-home sales price rise of 14% for November, year over year, to $353,900. Of the four regions NAR looks at — West, Midwest, South, and Northeast — only the Northeast remained steady. The rest of the regions saw an increase in existing home sales.
Overall, 83% of home sales in November were on the market for less than a month.
New US home sales boomed in 2020, but tightening supply, rising prices as well as the toll of Covid-19 could chill the sector, at least in early 2021 Photo: AFP / Chris DELMAS
Looking to 2022, Yun said, “mortgage rates are projected to jump in 2022, however, I don’t expect the imminent increase to be overly dramatic.”
Yun also predicts that the 30-year fixed mortgage rate will be 3.7% by 2022. The NAR’s “Real Estate Forecast Summit,” which features economists and housing experts, found that inflations would likely ease to a 4% rate in 2022.
Meanwhile, they expected a rise in home prices of 5.7%, “a moderate pace.”