August 2016 Existing-Home Sales

NAR released a summary of existing-home sales data showing that housing market activity slowed for the second month in a row. August’s existing-home sales slid to the 5.33 million seasonally adjusted annual rate and existing-home sales are modestly up 0.8 percent from a year ago.
The national median existing-home price for all housing types was $240,200 in August, up 5.1 percent from a year ago.
Regionally, all four regions showed growth in prices from a year ago, with the West leading at 9.2 percent. The South had an increase of 6.7 percent, and the Midwest followed with a 5.5 percent increase. The Northeast had the smallest gain of 0.8 percent from August 2015.
From July, three regions experienced declines in sales with the Northeast being the only region to have an increase of 6.1 percent. The Northeast is benefiting from sufficient inventory and that is helping tame price growth. The South had the biggest regional dip in sales with decline of 2.7 percent. The West had a decline of 1.6 percent while the sales in the Midwest declined 0.8 percent.
All regions showed a modest gain in sales from a year ago except the Northeast where sales remained flat. The South led all regions and had the biggest gain of 0.9 percent. The Midwest and the West both had gains of 0.8 percent. The South also leads all regions in percentage of national sales at 40.5 percent while the Northeast has the smallest share at 13.1 percent.
August’s inventory figures are down 3.3 percent from last month to 2.04 million homes for sale and the level remains below historical averages. Inventories are considerably down 10.1 percent from a year ago. It will take 4.6 months to move the current level of inventory at the current sales pace. It takes approximately 36 days for a home to go from listing to a contract in the current housing market, down from 47 days a year ago.
Single family sales decreased 2.3 percent while condos increased significantly 10.5 percent compared to last month. Single family home sales inclined 0.6 percent and condo sales are also up 1.6 percent from a year ago. Both single family and condos had an increase in price with single family up 5.3 percent and condos up 3.7 percent from August 2015.