December 2018 Existing-Home Sales

NAR released a summary of existing-home sales data showing that housing market activity this December, fell after two straight months of gains and was down 6.4 percent from November. Sales of existing-homes dropped 10.3 percent from December 2017. December’s existing-home sales reached a 4.99 million seasonally adjusted annual rate.

The national median existing-home price for all housing types was $253,600 in December, up 2.9 percent from a year ago. This marks the 82nd consecutive month of year-over-year gains.

Regionally, three of the four regions showed growth in prices from a year ago, with the Midwest remaining flat. The Northeast had largest gain of 8.2 percent followed by the South with a gain of 2.5 percent. The West had a modest gain of 0.2 percent from December 2017.
December’s inventory figures are down from last month 10.9 percent to 1.55 million homes for sale. Compared with December of 2017, there was a 6.2 percent increase in inventory levels. It will take 3.7 months to move the current level of inventory at the current sales pace. It takes approximately 46 days for a home to go from listing to a contract in the current housing market, up from 40 days a year ago.

From November 2018, the Midwest experienced the largest decline in sales of 11.2 percent. The Northeast had a decline of 6.8 percent followed by the South with a dip of 5.4 percent. The West had the smallest decline of 1.9 percent.
All four regions showed declines in sales from a year ago. The West had the biggest drop in sales of 15.0 percent. The Midwest had a decline of 10.5 percent followed by the South with a drop of 8.7 percent. The Northeast had the smallest drop in sales of 6.8 percent. The South led all regions in percentage of national sales, accounting for 41.9 percent of the total, while the Northeast had the smallest share at 13.8 percent.

In December, single-family sales were down 5.5 percent and condominiums sales were down 12.9 percent compared to last month. Single-family home sales fell 10.1 percent and condominium sales were down 11.5 compared to a year ago. Single-family homes had an increase in price up 2.9 percent at $255,200 and condominiums rose 2.3 percent at $240,600 from December 2017.