September 2019 Summary
At the end of September 2019, there were 1.83 million homes on the market. While this figure is comparable to the previous month, it’s down 2.7% from September 2018. At the current sales pace, the current supply would sell in just 4.1 months, which is up from 4.0 months in August but down from September 2018’s 4.4 months. The average home stayed on the market for 32 days, which is a day longer than August 2019 but the same number of days as September 2019. Of all homes sold in September, 49% were on the market for less than a month.
Equity Gains
Good news for home sellers: every major sales region reported increases in price this past September. In fact, that month marked the 91 consecutive months of year-over-year price gains. Be warned, however, that the lack of inventory combined with increasing prices is leading to a decline in the number of home sales. After two months of increases, sales of existing homes declined in September. While declines were prevalent across the board, the Midwest was hit the hardest. According to National Association of Realtors chief economist Lawrence Yun, “We must continue to beat the drum for more inventory.” Yun has spent the last year campaigning for an increase in home construction, which should provide the inventory needed to curb the pain of the housing shortage.
Regional Sales Breakdown
Northeast: Existing-home sales had an annual rate of 690,000 in September 2019. This is a decline of 2.8% from August, but an increase of 1.5% from September of the previous year.
Midwest: Existing-home sales saw an annual rate of 1.27 million, a decrease of 3.1% from the previous month but on par with September of 2018.
South: Existing-home sales annual rate was at 2.28 million, a decrease of 2.1% from August but an increase of 6% from a year ago.
West: Existing-home sales annual rate of 1.14 million, which is a 0.9% decrease from August 2019 but an increase of 5.6% from September 2018.