Summary
Despite rising mortgage rates, active home listings in October reached pre-pandemic levels with a 29% year-over-year increase, driven by a surge in new listings and pending sales. However, the market showed signs of slowing down, with homes spending more time on the market compared to last year, reaching the slowest pace since 2019.
Report
Despite rising mortgage rates in October, which slowed the growth in new listings seen in September, the total number of active listings reached levels not seen since before the pandemic, according to the Realtor.com October housing data. The increase in new listings in September closely aligns with the increase in pending listings in October in the largest markets. Homes for sale in October were up 29% compared to October 2023, marking the 12th straight month of increased inventory and the highest level since December 2019.
Nonetheless, this marks a decline from September’s growth rate of 34% year-over-year. For the fourth consecutive month, growth has slowed from the previous month. The trend could continue due to the effect of a late inventory peak in 2023.
Homes for sale, including those with pending contracts, saw a 22.5% year-over-year increase, extending a streak of annual growth for the 11th consecutive month. This figure, however, represents a slight decline from the previous month’s rate of 22.85%. October saw a continued surge in pending home listings, up 9.9% year-over-year, almost tripling the 3.5% increase observed in September.
Although last October brought an unusually low benchmark, this month’s rise is at least partially due to last month’s rise in new listings. With many sellers becoming buyers, October’s surge in new listings has translated into an increase in pending home sales, driven by a larger pool of interested buyers. As Realtor.com predicted last month, the drop in mortgage rates in August triggered a surge in home listings in September and October, as more homeowners were enticed to sell due to lower borrowing costs.
While November and December tend to be slower in the housing market, an uptick in listings is possible now that the presidential election results are known. Homes for sale spent an average of 58 days on the market in October, which is 8 days longer than October 2023 and 3 days longer than September. Homes lingered on the market longer than the previous year for the 7th month in a row, making October the slowest month since 2019.
Despite this, homes are still selling 7 days quicker than the average October from 2017 to 2019. In October, the national median list price was $424,950, only $50 less than both the previous month and last October. While the inventory mix has shifted towards smaller homes, the typical home listed this year still commands a higher asking price than last year.
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