Existing home sales
Existing home sales skimming along bottoms
  • Prior month 3.820M (vs 3.77M estimate last month).
  • Annual sales pace of existing home sales 3.78M vs 3.82M last month
  • Existing home sales -1.0% vs +0.8% last month
  • median home price for existing home sales $382,600 up 4.4% from December 2022
  • inventories of homes for sale 1 million units, 3.2 months worth
  • 2023 existing home sales 4.09 million units which is the lowest annual level since 1995
  • Existing home inventory -11.5% MoM but up 4.2% YoY
  • According to Freddie Mac, the 30-year fixed-rate mortgage averaged 6.60% as of January 18. That's down from 6.66% the prior week but up from 6.15% one year ago.

Other details:

  • Properties typically stayed on the market for 29 days in December, an increase from 25 days in November and 26 days in December 2022.
  • 56% of homes sold in December were on the market for less than a month.
  • First-time buyers constituted 29% of sales in December, a decrease from 31% in both November 2023 and December 2022.
  • The annual share of first-time buyers was reported to be 32% in NAR's 2023 Profile of Home Buyers and Sellers.
  • All-cash sales made up 29% of transactions in December, rising from 27% in November 2023 and 28% in December 2022.
  • Individual investors or second-home buyers accounted for 16% of home purchases in December, a decrease from 18% in November and consistent with the previous year.
  • Distressed sales, including foreclosures and short sales, comprised 2% of sales in December, remaining virtually unchanged from the previous month and year.

Regionally:

  • Northeast: Existing-home sales remained at 470,000 units, unchanged from November but down 9.6% from December 2022. Median price was $428,100, up 9.4% from the previous year.
  • Midwest: Existing-home sales decreased by 4.3% from the prior month to an annual rate of 900,000 in December, a 10.9% decline from the previous year. Median price was $275,600, up 5.9% from December 2022.
  • South: Existing-home sales dropped by 2.8% from November to an annual rate of 1.72 million in December, a 4.4% decrease from the prior year. Median price was $352,100, up 3.8% from one year ago.
  • West: Existing-home sales increased by 7.8% from the previous month to an annual rate of 690,000 in December, but were down 1.4% from the previous year. Median price was $582,000, up 4.8% from December 2022.