While signaling the end of 2019’s peak selling season, September home sales rose 8.1% year-over-year — the largest year-over-year increase since November 2016, according to RE/MAX Holdings National Housing Report for the month. Home purchases increased in 47 of the report’s 54 markets, forcing already tight inventory totals to drop 6.1% year-over-year for the biggest decline in over a year.
The year-over-year increase in September 2019 sales was the largest September increase since 2013. This was accompanied by an August-to-September decline of 17.0%, which, while larger than average, was significantly less than the month-to-month drop of 24.4% in September 2018, when sales sharply declined amid an uncertain interest rate environment. September 2019 marked the third consecutive month of year-over-year inventory decline.
“It was encouraging to see the improvement in September home sales, especially given how tough last September’s results were,” said Adam Contos, RE/MAX Holdings CEO. “The market still poses some challenges for buyers – framed by rising prices and shrinking inventory – but we’re moving into the fourth quarter on much better footing than we had a year ago. As we begin to lap the end of last year and its persistent sales declines, the housing market’s momentum increases the chances of seeing more months of strong year-over-year gains in sales.”
September’s median sales price of $254,500 was a year-over-year increase of 4.5%, which is in line with the year-over-year average gain of 4.9% for 2019’s first nine months.
Of the 54 metro areas surveyed in September, the overall average number of home sales rose 8.1% compared with September 2018. Leading the year-over-year sales percentage increases were Los Angeles (31.4%), Little Rock, Arkansas (24.2%), and Tulsa, Oklahoma (22.1%).
