Existing homes in the United States that are being sold rose more than the expected amount last month.
The increase in sales in September made it to the second highest monthly sales pace since February 2007. This increase in existing home sales suggests that the housing market continues to show strength compared to the rest of the economy.
RISMedia reported that the total number of completed existing home sale transactions that include single-family homes, townhomes, condominiums, and co-ops have increased by 4.7 percent to the seasonally adjusted annual rate of 5.55 million, as opposed to the 5.30 million in August. The total existing home sales in September are 8.8 percent higher compared to the annual rate of 5.10 million a year ago.
According to the report of the Globe and Mail, the increase in existing home sales in the four regions of the United States, will bring about a tightened supply of available homes in inventory.
The present inventory of unsold homes was down to a 4.8-month supply at the current sales pace, down from 5.1 months in August and 5.4 months a year ago.
National Association of Realtors' Chief Economist, Lawrence Yun, said that tightening the supply will not be felt right away and can be disastrous in the future.
"As we enter softer demand months, we may not really feel the squeeze of tight inventory," said Yun. "But come spring of next year ... we could be facing a very tight inventory situation."
Jonathan Smoke, Chief Economist for Realtor, said that the data on the increase of existing home sales, shows that the biggest share is that of first-time home buyers, which fell to 29 percent in September as opposed to the 32 percent in August. Smoke shared that the decline of the first-time home buyers may be a simple reflection of the "competition in September by repeat buyers whose closing slipped out due to the stock market disruptions."
