Home resales hit 14-year high

Transactions up 9.4% in September, with prices rising 15%

CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Sales of previously owned U.S. homes rose more than expected in September to the highest level in 14 years as a desire for more space and record-low mortgage rates continue to support demand.

Sales climbed 9.4% to an annualized 6.54 million units, the National Association of Realtors said Thursday, the latest sign that the housing market remains red-hot despite the coronavirus pandemic.

That is the highest level for that metric since February 2006, at the peak of the previous housing bubble. The figure was well above economists’ expectations.

The median selling price of a home also climbed, to $311,800, up 15% from a year earlier, according to the association. This is largely because of the low supply of existing homes. The supply fell to only 2.7 months of home inventory on the market. That’s a record low for that metric since the association started tracking that data in 1982.

Housing “is clearly much better than a V-shaped recovery, so it’s not only about recovering but well surpassing what was happening prior to the pandemic,” Lawrence Yun, the association’s chief economist, said on a call with reporters. At the same time, “home prices are simply rising too fast due to insufficient supply and very strong demand.”

Properties remained on the market for just 21 days in September, an all-time low and down from 32 days in the same month last year, the association said.

With the pandemic forcing many Americans to work and learn from home, demand for single-family properties has soared at the same time recordlow mortgage rates have lured more buyers.

Regionally, the strongest market was the Northeast, with existing home sales up 16.2% from a year earlier.

U. S. long- term mortgage rates slipped this week as the key 30-year loan marked a new all-time low for the 11th time this year.

Mortgage buyer Freddie Mac reported Thursday that the average rate on the 30-year benchmark loan edged down to 2.80% from 2.81% last week. By contrast, the rate averaged 3.75% a year ago.

The average rate on the 15-year fixed-rate mortgage declined to 2.33% from 2.35%.

(AP) A “sale pending” sign is posted outside a house in Westfield, Ind., in this September photo. Sales of previously owned homes climbed 9.4% in September, the National Association of Realtors said Thursday.