LOS ANGELES — Sales 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. That’s just above the 3.9 million unit pace that economists were expecting, according to FactSet.
Sales sank 15.4% compared with the same month last year and are down 21% through the first nine months of the year versus the same period in 2022.
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.
“Clearly, the story of limited inventory and rising and rising mortgage rates continues to hinder the home sales market,” said Lawrence Yun, the NAR’s chief economist.
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.
High rates can add hundreds of dollars a month in costs for borrowers, limiting how much they can afford in a market already out of reach for many Americans. They also discourage homeowners who locked in rock-bottom rates two years ago from selling.
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.
Homes sold last month typically within just 21 days after hitting the market, and about 26% of homes sold for more than their list price, the NAR said.
All told, there were 1.13 million homes on the market by the end of last month, up 2.7% from August, but down 8.1% from September last year, the NAR said. That amounts to just a 3.4-month supply, going by the current sales pace. In a more balanced market between buyers and sellers, there is a 4- to 5-month supply.
