US home sales fall for 8th month in a row in September, the longest slump since 2007
Home sales in the US declined for the eighth month in a row in September as surging mortgage rates and high prices pushed buyers out of the market.
Sales of existing homes – which include single-family homes, townhomes, condominiums and co-ops – were down 23.8% in September from a year ago and down 1.5% from August, according to the National Association of Realtors.
That continues a slowing trend that began in February and marks the longest housing sales slump since October 2007 during the subprime mortgage collapse.
Sales in September were at their weakest level since May 2020, which was an anomaly because that was in the early days of the pandemic lockdown. Setting that aside, sales last month were the weakest they have been since September 2012.
The housing sector continues to undergo an adjustment due to the continuous rise in interest rates, which eclipsed 7% for 30-year fixed mortgages. Expensive regions of the country are especially feeling the pinch and seeing larger declines in sales.
Inventory of homes for sale in September was down 2.3% from August and 0.8% from a year ago, according to the report.
Housing market fragmenting
The slowdown is manifesting differently in markets across the country.
In the West, sales have dropped the most dramatically, plunging 31.3% since last year. Meanwhile, home sales have dropped 18.7% from a year ago in the Northeast, 19.7% in the Midwest and 23.8% in the South.
The West has been consistently down more because homes are super expensive and rising mortgage rates have a greater impact in the more expensive markets.
Analysts anticipate prices to cool faster and fall farther from the peak in areas like California and other hot cities that saw big price increases during the pandemic.
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