Sales of existing homes rose 5.6 percent from October to November, according to the most recent National Association of REALTORS® report.
They were also up 3.8 percent year-over-year to reach a high of about 5.81 million sales. That’s the fastest clip at which they’ve sold since December 2006.
Co-op and condo sales surged the most, vaulting 14.3 percent month-over-month and jumping 7.5% annually. Meanwhile, sales of single-family abodes rose 4.5 percent from October and 3.2 percent from November 2016.
“In general, home sales are up because of the strong economy, low unemployment,” says realtor.com Senior Economist Joseph Kirchner. “There may have been a bump in sales because home buyers are anticipating an increase in mortgage interest rates and they wanted to act before the rates went up.”
According to NAR, median home prices to rose to hit $248,000 in November, up 0.8 percent from the previous month and 5.8 percent over the previous year. This is good news for clients who are sellers, but not so much for those who are buying.
Of existing homes sold in November, 41.5 percent were in the $100,000 to $250,000 price bracket. An additional 34 percent were in the $250,000 to $500,000 range.
Just 10.8 percent were under $100,000. The rest, about 13.7 percent, were over $500,000.
