Existing-home purchases increased for the fifth consecutive month in October as sales were up 4.3% from the prior month and 26.6% from one year ago, the National Association of Realtors reported Thursday, as the personal real estate market remains red-hot.
“Faced with many uncertainties in 2020, the real estate industry has been able to meet surprisingly strong homebuying demand,” said NAR’s President Charlie Oppler.
The median existing-home price last month was $313,000, almost 16% more than in October 2019, as more than 7 in 10 homes sold in October 2020 — 72% — were on the market for less than a month, NAR reported.
“Considering that we remain in a period of stubbornly high unemployment relative to pre-pandemic levels, the housing sector has performed remarkably well this year,” said Lawrence Yun, NAR’s chief economist.
While coronavirus-induced shutdowns hindered virtually all markets, Yun said the housing industry has mounted an impressive rebound.
“The surge in sales in recent months has now offset the spring market losses,” he said.
As the pandemic hit the nation in March, monthly sales dropped below 4 million, at a seasonally adjusted annual rate. That total was much lower than the nearly 6 million seasonally adjusted rate sold in February before the virus hit.
In June, the market turned a corner and existing home sales soared 20.7%. The personal real estate market has been on the rise ever since as 6.85 million existing homes were sold last month, at a seasonally adjusted annual rate.
Yun projects that sales will continue to increase into 2021.
“With news that a COVID-19 vaccine will soon be available, and with mortgage rates projected to hover around 3% in 2021, I expect the market’s growth to continue into 2021,” he said.
