Sales of previously occupied U.S. homes rose in November to their fastest pace since March with home shoppers encouraged by a wider selection of properties on the market, even as mortgage rates mostly ticked higher.
Existing home sales rose 4.8% last month, from October, to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 4.15 million, the National Association of Realtors said Thursday.
Sales accelerated 6.1% compared with November last year, representing the biggest year-over-year gain since June 2021. The latest home sales topped the 4.1 million pace economists were expecting, according to FactSet.
Home prices increased on an annual basis for the 17th consecutive month. The national median sales price rose 4.7% from a year earlier, to $406,100.
Despite increasing in November and October, home sales are still running below last year’s pace, when they sank to a nearly 30-year low.
“Looks like we won’t match last year in terms of the annual total, so it will be the lowest home sales since 1995,” said Lawrence Yun, the NAR’s chief economist.
The U.S. housing market has been in a sales slump dating back to 2022, when mortgage rates began to climb from pandemic-era lows. A shortage of homes for sale has helped prop up prices, which as of last month are up 50% nationally since 2019.
Mortgage rates have come down this year after the average rate on a 30-year home loan reached a…
