The long, hot summer for home buying is finally cooling down, and buyers should breathe a sigh of relief. After months of steadily rising prices, bidding wars, and offers over asking, existing-home prices are continuing to fall.
Prices hit a median $245,100 in September, sliding nearly 3.2% from August, according to the most recent National Association of Realtors® report. But prices for these previously lived-in abodes were still up 4.2% from a year ago.
“It’s interesting we haven’t seen listing prices come down just yet “ says Chief Economist Danielle Hale. This means that sellers may be listing their homes at higher prices, but buyers are buying less expensive properties. The annual pace of price increases is also starting to slow, which “suggests that buyers are hitting a wall with how many price increases they can continue to accept.”
Indeed, there were about 23% fewer existing homes listed at $250,000 and under in September than there were a year earlier, according to the report. However, there were 28.2% more in the $500,000-and-up price range.
Existing-home sales nudged up 0.7% from August to September—but they were down 1.5% annually, according to the seasonally adjusted numbers in the report. That means they have been smoothed out over 12 months to account for seasonal fluctuations in the market.
Monthly prices fell nearly 2.6% in the South, to hit $215,100, but were up 4.6% annually. The number of sales dropped 0.9% month over month and tumbled 2.3% year over year. In the Midwest, median prices fell 2.9% from August, to reach $195,800, but rose 5.4% from last year. Monthly sales were up 1.6%, but down 1.5% annually.
