Home Sales Show Major Increase

The number of home sales has increased over 20%

Since areas have been opening back up after the lockdowns this past spring home sales have been increasing. For a period of three months sales had slipped when restrictions were in place, but now they have been fast increasing with a 20.7% jump seen in the month of June according to a recent report by the National Association of Realtors (NAR). All 4 major areas of the country have seen this tremendous growth in activity. 

Existing home sales which includes completed transactions of condos, co-ops, single families and townhomes had seen a 20.7% surge in June from the previous month in May. This was a significant rebound yet by comparison to 2019’s numbers are still down by 11.3%.

“The sales recovery is strong, as buyers were eager to purchase homes and properties that they had been eyeing during the shutdown,” said Lawrence Yun, NAR’s chief economist. “This revitalization looks to be sustainable for many months ahead as long as mortgage rates remain low and job gains continue.”

Housing Prices

The median price for all types of homes has also shown an increase in all 4 areas of the United States. Prices were up by 3.5% over 2019 which marked the 100th month in a row for price increases.

Amount of Property Inventory

Housing inventory is still very low. The limited number of homes on the market has been an ongoing issue for a while and the pandemic only added to this. Inventory levels for the month of June by comparison of the same time last year is down by 18.2%.

Days on Market

The average days on the market for homes in June was just 24 days. This amount was down from May at 26 days and also down from 27 days in June of last year. 

Mortgage Rates

Home loan rates continue to be extremely low. Per Freddie Mac, the average commitment rate was 3.16% in June for a 30 year conventional fixed rate loan. By comparison to last year the average for all of 2019 was 3.94%.