U.S. Home Sales at Lowest Level in 10 Years... Sales Decline for 8 Consecutive Months

[Asia Economy New York=Special Correspondent Joselgina] The US housing market is showing the most sluggish level in the past 10 years. The number of sales has decreased for eight consecutive months.

According to the National Association of Realtors (NAR) on the 20th (local time), the number of existing home sales in September was recorded at 4.71 million units (annual rate), down 1.5% from the previous month. This is the lowest since May 2020 and the lowest level since September 2012, excluding the initial lockdown period of the COVID-19 pandemic.

The number of existing home sales has decreased for eight consecutive months until last month. This is the longest decline since 2007. Compared to a year ago, last month's sales volume plummeted by 23.8%.

Prices also fell for three consecutive months since July. The median price of existing homes sold last month was $384,800 (approximately 549.11 million KRW), slightly down from August ($391,700). However, September home prices rose 8.4% compared to the same month last year, continuing the longest-ever 127-month consecutive increase year-over-year.

This is interpreted as a result of the Federal Reserve's aggressive interest rate hikes, which pushed mortgage rates above 7%, increasing the burden of interest rates. Lawrence Yun, NAR Chief Economist, said, "We have not yet hit the bottom," and predicted that existing home sales could fall to 4.5 million units. However, he also noted that the real estate market is unlikely to collapse due to the limited housing supply.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.