Existing-Home Sales Increase Strongly by 2.0% in October
22 November 2017 - 2:30AM
Dow Jones News
By Sharon Nunn and Sarah Chaney
WASHINGTON--Sales of previously-owned homes grew robustly in
October, as home sales continued to rebound in recently
hurricane-ravaged markets.
Existing-home sales increased 2.0% from a month earlier to a
seasonally adjusted annual rate of 5.48 million, the National
Association of Realtors said Tuesday. Economists surveyed by The
Wall Street Journal had expected a 0.2% increase to a 5.40 million
annual rate in October.
The October sales figure still marked a year-over-year decline,
weighed down by supply shortages.
Home sales in areas hit by recent hurricanes, including Houston,
Orlando and other major Florida markets, showed gains from prior
months, helping to drive up the nationwide increase in October,
according to Lawrence Yun, NAR chief economist.
Hurricanes that battered the southern and eastern U.S. in August
and September previously caused year over year growth to slow and
out-right declined.
The hurricanes and a shortage of homes that has driven home
prices higher are affecting the housing market's momentum. The
median price of homes sold last month rose to $247,000 in October,
up 5.5% from a year earlier. This marks the fifth consecutive year
of price gains.
The shortage of homes can also be seen in October's current
sales pace reading. It would take 3.9 months to exhaust the supply
of homes on the market, the lowest October reading since 1999, the
year NAR started tracking the data.
News Corp, owner of The Wall Street Journal, also operates
Realtor.com under license from the National Association of
Realtors.
Write to Sharon Nunn at sharon.nunn@wsj.com and Sarah Chaney at
sarah.chaney@wsj.com.
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
November 21, 2017 10:15 ET (15:15 GMT)
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