5.9% drop in US home transactions in Oct, pace drops for ninth straight month

Sales of previously occupied US homes fell in October for the ninth consecutive month to the slowest pre-pandemic sales pace in more than 10 years as homebuyers grappled with sharply higher mortgage rates, rising home prices and fewer properties on the market.

Existing home sales fell 5.9 per cent last month from September to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 4.43 million, the National Association of Realtors said yesterday. The string of monthly sales declines this year is the longest on record going back to 1999, the NAR said.

Sales cratered 28.4 per cent from October last year. Sales are now at the slowest annual pace since December 2011.