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How did the housing market fare in October?

Published 10:58 am Thursday, December 10, 2015

With mortgage rates remaining below 4 percent for the third straight month, existing home sales in October were at a healthy pace but failed to keep up with September’s jump, according to the National Association of Realtors®. All four major regions saw no gains in sales in October.

Total existing-home sales fell 3.4 percent to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 5.36 million in October from 5.55 million in September. Despite last month’s decline, sales are still 3.9 percent above a year ago.

Lawrence Yun, NAR chief economist, says a sales cooldown in October was likely given the pullback in contract signings the last couple of months.

“New and existing-home supply has struggled to improve so far this fall, leading to few choices for buyers and no easement of the ongoing affordability concerns still prevalent in some markets,” he said. “Furthermore, the mixed signals of slowing economic growth and volatility in the financial markets slightly tempered demand and contributed to the decreasing pace of sales.”

Adds Yun, “As long as solid job creation continues, a gradual easing of credit standards even with moderately higher mortgage rates should support steady demand and sales continuing to rise above a year ago.”

Total housing inventory at the end of October decreased 2.3 percent to 2.14 million existing homes available for sale, and is now 4.5 percent lower than a year ago (2.24 million).

Existing-home sales in the West fell 8.7 percent to an annual rate of 1.16 million in October, but are still 2.7 percent above a year ago. The median price in the West was $319,000, which is 8.0 percent above October 2014.

The Snohomish County-Camano Association of Realtors® is “the voice for real estate in Snohomish County.” If you have questions for The Expert about real estate email us at info@sccar.com.