Extremely low inventory levels pushed existing-home sales down more than expected in December, according to the latest data from the National Association of Realtors…(NAR)
- M-O-M: Total existing-home sales fell 4.6% in December 2021 to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 6.18 million.
- Y-O-Y: Total existing-home sales were also down year-over-year with a 7.1% drop.
- SWING & A MISS: Economists had projected sales falling just 0.3% to 6.44M.
It’s not all bad news though. In the aggregate, 2021 saw overall sales increase 8.5% to 6.18 million which is the highest annual rate since 2006.
The South led the way with a 2.7M annual rate despite a 6.3% drop month-over-month.
- The Midwest was number two at 1.5M (-1.3%) followed by the West at 1.23M(-6.8%) and the Northeast pulled up the rear with a 750K annual rate thanks to a 1.3% slide in December.
Inventory continues to plummet as the year ended with 910,000 units available which is a 180.0% decline from November and a 14.2% drop from the same time one year ago.
The inventory crunch is putting upward pressure on prices which helped the median existing-home price climb to 358,000, this is 15.8% above December 2020.
- The South, once again, led among the four regions with 20.2% year-over-year price growth ($323,000).
- The Midwest region was number two at 10.0% ($256,900) followed by the West up 8.4% ($507,100), and the Northeast up 6.3% ($384,600)
NOTE: The median existing single-family home price was $364,300 in December, up 16.1% from December 2020.
Lawrence Yun, NAR’s chief economist, had bad news for anyone who thinks this supply crunch is going to be fixed anytime soon…
- “We saw inventory numbers hit an all-time low in December…Home builders have already made strides in 2022 to increase supply, but reversing gaps like the ones we’ve seen recently will take years to correct.”