WASHINGTON (Reuters) – U.S. home resales fell to their lowest level in 13 years in September amid rising interest rates and tighter supply that are affecting the financing capacity of first-time homeowners. -accessors.
The National Association of Realtors (NAR) on Thursday reported a 2.0% drop in resales last month, to 3.96 million annualized, the lowest level since October 2010.
Economists polled by Reuters on average forecast a drop in home resales to 3.89 million, after 4.04 million in August.
Over one year, these sales show a decline of 15.4% while the 30-year real estate borrowing rate is now above 7%.
“As has been the case throughout this year, limited inventory and housing affordability continue to hamper home sales,” said Lawrence Yun, NAR chief economist. “The rise in real estate rates is really slowing down activity,” he added.
Some 1.13 million existing homes were on the market last month, a decline of 8.1% year-on-year, meaning at current sales rates it would take 3.4 months to exhaust the current stock, compared to 3.2 months a year ago.
In September, properties generally remained on the market for 21 days, compared to 19 days a year ago. Sixty-nine percent of homes sold in September had been on the market for less than a month. First-time buyers represented 27% of sales, compared to 29% a year ago.
All-cash sales represented 29% of transactions compared to 22% a year ago.
(Report by Lucia Mutikani; by Claude Chendjou, edited by Kate Entringer)
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