The November RE/MAX National Housing Report, a survey of MLS data in 52 metro areas, found a 15.9 percent monthly decrease in sales and a 7.8 percent decrease from sales in November of last year. A number of unrelated factors contributed to the change in direction, which broke a 28 consecutive month increase in year-over-year home sales. Of all 52 metro areas surveyed in November, only nine reported higher sales than in November 2012.
After 28 months of year-over-year increases in home sales, November saw a 7.8 pecent drop. The housing market appears to be making expected seasonal adjustments, as the recovery is simultaneously impacted by a combination of factors - rising interest rates, the government shutdown, mortgage qualification difficulties, severe weather, and seasonality. Mostly due to a still tight supply of homes for sale, the November median home price of $187,000 rose 13.7 pecent over the price in November 2012. With the current rate of home sales, the number of months necessary to sell the entire inventory, or the Months Supply, inched higher to 5.4 months, very close to the 6.0 supply that defines a market balanced equally between buyers and sellers. The national inventory situation continues to move in the right direction. The current 12.9 pecent drop in inventory from November 2012 is less than half the annual inventory loss seen in April of this year.
Of the drop, Margaret Kelly, CEO of RE/MAX, said, “In a month when we normally expect home sales to slow down, this November, we’ve seen more than seasonality at play. While the fundamentals for a housing recovery remain in place, the market never moves in a straight line. Along the way, we should expect some fluctuations resulting from a number of different factors.”
Source: RE/MAX