The National Association of Realtors released its existing-home sales data for August 2022. The small decline in sales from July was overshadowed by a 19.9% decline in sales compared to August 2021. The percentage decline translated to a decline of 1.19 million homes. The biggest drop occurred in the West (-29.0%) followed by the South (-19.3%).
Despite the steep decline in the number of homes sold, prices still rose, although at a much slower pace than the near 20% rate prevailing for much of 2021 and early 2022. The increase of 7.7% from August 2021 was offset by the 5.8% decline in median sales price from the June all-time high of $413,800. Prices rose mostly significantly in the South (12.4%) followed by the West (7.1%) and Midwest (6.6%).
Somewhat surprisingly, the steep decline in closed sales did not drive up inventory. Compared to July 2022, inventory declined 1.5% and did not decline at all compared to August 2022. Existing-home inventory stands at 3.2 months at the current pace of sales, up from 2.6 months in August 2021. Also surprising was the decline in days-on-market by one day from 17 in August 2021 to 16 in August 2022.
Other remarkable, or at least interest, details in the August NAR data:
- The number of active home listings of all types was 43.8% lower in August 2022 than the average from 2017 to 2019.
- Homes under contract but not yet closed dropped 21.9% from August 2021.
- New listings in August 2022 declined by 13.4% compared to the prior year.
- Inventory increased in many large metro areas, some by dramatic numbers: Phoenix (+177.4%), Raleigh (+163.6%), and Austin (+138.6%).
- Raleigh also was one of only eight markets that saw an increase (14.4%) in the number of newly listed homes. Nashville let the way at 25.5%.
The detailed data from NAR can be found here.
