(NewsNation) — Home sales ticked up in November after five consecutive months of declines and prices marched higher.
Existing home sales, which make up the majority of the housing market, increased 0.8% in November from the month prior, according to the National Association of Realtors (NAR).
Last month’s increase marks a turnaround from October when home sales slumped to their slowest pace in over 13 years amid surging mortgage rates.
The slight improvement was still far from a strong month. Compared to November of last year, home sales were down 7.3%.
Inventory remains tight which helped push the median-existing home price to $387,600 last month — up 4.0% from November 2022.
“Home prices keep marching higher,” NAR Chief Economist Lawrence Yun said in a statement. “Only a dramatic rise in supply will dampen price appreciation.”
Home sales are expected to improve as mortgage rates start coming down. Last week, the average long-term U.S. mortgage rate fell below 7% to its lowest level since early August.
The latest sales data largely reflects the buyer bidding process in October when mortgage rates were at a two-decade high, Yun said.
Construction activity for new homes is also starting to pick up, providing a much-needed boost on the inventory side. A report this week showed future single-family housing construction permits increased in November to the highest level since May 2022.
Single-family housing starts jumped 18% last month to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 1.143 million units. That’s the highest level since April 2022, Reuters reported.
