Partly reflecting a jump in the share of sales by first-time home buyers, the National Association of Realtors released a report on Thursday showing that existing home sales in the U.S. rebounded by much more than anticipated in the month of September.
NAR said existing home sales jumped by 3.2 percent to an annual rate of 5.47 million in September after falling by 1.5 percent to a downwardly revised rate of 5.30 million in August.
Economists had expected existing home sales to inch up by 0.4 percent to a rate of 5.35 million from the 5.33 million originally reported for the previous month.
With the monthly rebound, existing home sales are at their highest pace since June and are up by 0.6 percent compared to the same month a year ago.
"The home search over the past several months for a lot of prospective buyers, and especially for first-time buyers, took longer than usual because of the competition for the minimal amount of homes for sale," said NAR chief economist Lawrence Yun.
"Most families and move-up buyers look to close before the new school year starts," he added. "Their diminishing presence from the market towards the end of summer created more opportunities for aspiring first-time homeowners to buy last month."
The report said the median existing-home price for all housing types was $234,200 in September, down 2.4 percent from $239,900 in August but up 5.6 percent from $221,700 in September 2015.
Total housing inventory at the end of September rose 1.5 percent to 2.04 million existing homes available for sale, representing 4.5 months of supply at the current sales pace.
NAR said the rebound in existing home sales in September came as the share of first-time buyers jumped to 34 percent, matching the highest share since July of 2012.
"There's hope the leap in sales to first-time buyers can stick through the rest of the year and into next spring," said Yun. "The market fundamentals — primarily consistent job gains and affordable mortgage rates — are there for the steady rise in first-timers needed to finally reverse the decline in the homeownership rate."
The report also said single-family home sales surged up by 4.1 percent to a rate of 4.86 million in September, while existing condominium and co-op sales slumped by 3.2 percent to a rate of 610,000.
Next Wednesday, the Commerce Department is scheduled to release a separate report on new home sales in the month of September.
by RTT Staff Writer
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