Dec. 21 (UPI) — Existing home sales in the United States jumped 5.6 percent in November, reaching their highest sales rate in 11 years, the National Association of Realtors said on Wednesday.
The numbers include 5.81 million completed transactions of single-family homes, townhomes, condominiums and co-ops so far this year. Overall, sales are 3.8 percent higher than at this time last year and are at their highest rate since December 2006, when there were 6.42 million completed transactions of exiting homes.
“Faster economic growth in recent quarters, the booming stock market and continuous job gains are fueling substantial demand for buying a home as 2017 comes to an end,” said NAR chief economist Lawrence Yun.
But Yun also said that the robust home sales are primarily on the higher end of the market, leaving out many first-time and lower-income buyers.
“As evidenced by a subdued level of first-time buyers and increased share of cash buyers, move-up buyers with considerable down payments and those with cash made up a bulk of the sales activity last month,” he said.
In October, Yun said persistent inventory shortages were to blame for why first-time buyers couldn’t close on a home.
“With the lower end of the market seeing the worst of the supply crunch, house hunters faced mounting odds in finding their first home,” Yun said. “Multiple offers were a common occurrence, investors paying in cash had the upper hand, and prices kept climbing, which yanked homeownership out of reach for countless would-be buyers.”
But for those on the higher end of the home market, increases are seen in all regions of the country.
The Midwest was the region of the country with the highest existing home sales increase with 8.4 percent in November, bringing its annual rate to 1.42 million. Those numbers are 6.8 percent higher than at this time last year.
The South also had sales increases at a rate of 8.3 percent, bringing its annual rate to 2.34 million in November and nearly double its 4.8 percent rate from last year.
The West, meanwhile, saw a decrease, dropping down to 2.3 percent with an annual rate of 1.25 million in November. However, those numbers are a 2.5 percent improvement from a year ago.
