{"id":160980,"date":"2023-10-23T14:19:24","date_gmt":"2023-10-23T20:19:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.biggerpockets.com\/blog\/?p=160980"},"modified":"2023-10-23T14:20:48","modified_gmt":"2023-10-23T20:20:48","slug":"existing-home-sales-report-september-2023","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.biggerpockets.com\/blog\/existing-home-sales-report-september-2023","title":{"rendered":"Existing Home Sales Fell 2% in September According to Latest Data From NAR"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">The latest&nbsp;<\/span><a class=\"editor-rtfLink\" href=\"https:\/\/www.nar.realtor\/newsroom\/existing-home-sales-fell-2-0-in-september\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">National Association of Realtors Existing Home Sales Report<\/span><\/a><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">&nbsp;points to a consistent downward trend in existing home sales across the U.S. and issues a stark warning against raising the federal funds rate any further. It also reveals that investment purchasing is growing, with many investors choosing to buy existing homes with cash.<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">September\u2019s data confirms what everyone already knows about the real estate market. Overall, it\u2019s been consistently slowing down over the past year due to an ongoing decline in new listings, coupled with increasing&nbsp;<\/span><a class=\"editor-rtfLink\" href=\"https:\/\/www.biggerpockets.com\/blog\/on-the-market-145\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">unaffordability<\/span><\/a><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">. At least, that\u2019s what the figures represent on the surface.<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n  <div class=\"lg:block\" x-data=\"{ ad_block_block_6536d499d1a12: popAds(1) }\">\n      <template x-for=\"ad in ad_block_block_6536d499d1a12\">\n        <a\n          :href=\"ad.linkURL\"\n          class=\"no-underline text-black\"\n          x-on:click=\"adClicked('https:\/\/www.biggerpockets.com\/blog\/existing-home-sales-report-september-2023', ad.sponsor, ad.title, ad.id, 'blockAdClicked', 'blockAd', '')\"\n          target=\"_blank\">\n          <div\n            class=\"py-4 border-b flex flex-col flex-nowrap text-sm border-t px-0 rounded-none\"\n            x-init=\"\n              analytics.track('blockAdLoaded', {\n                referrer: 'https:\/\/www.biggerpockets.com\/blog\/existing-home-sales-report-september-2023',\n                sponsor: ad.sponsor,\n                ad_title: ad.title,\n                ad_page_location: ''\n              })\n            \"\n            x-intersect:enter.once=\"adViewed('https:\/\/www.biggerpockets.com\/blog\/existing-home-sales-report-september-2023', ad.sponsor, ad.title, ad.id, 'blockAdViewed', 'blockAd', '')\">\n            <div><span class=\"text-xs text-slate-light block bg-slate-50 p-1 inline-block rounded-md\">Sponsored<\/span><\/div>\n            <div class=\"flex items-center text-sm space-x-4\">\n                <img :src=\"ad.imageURL\" :alt=\"ad.imageAlt\" class=\"h-10 w-10 object-cover rounded-full\">\n\n                <div clas=\"text-sm\">\n                    <span class=\"font-bold block\" x-text=\"ad.sponsor\"><\/span>\n                    <span class=\"text-slate\/80\" x-text=\"ad.description\"><\/span>\n                <\/div>\n            <\/div>\n\n            <div>\n                <span class=\"font-bold\" x-text=\"ad.title\"><\/span>\n                <p class=\"mt-2 text-slate\/80\" x-text=\"ad.body\"><\/p>\n                <span class=\"mt-2 text-themeBlue block mt-2 underline\" x-text=\"ad.linkTitle\"><\/span>\n            <\/div>\n          <\/div>\n        <\/a>\n      <\/template>\n  <\/div>\n\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">A Look at the Numbers<\/span><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">The total number of existing home sales\u2014including single-family homes, condos, townhouses, and co-ops\u2014was down 2% from August and down 15.4% year-over-year from September 2022. This drop represents nearly three-quarters of a million homes: 3.96 million were sold in September 2023, as opposed to 4.68 million in September 2022.&nbsp;<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">NAR chief economist Lawrence Yun commented in the organization\u2019s press release that \u2018\u2019as has been the case throughout this year, limited inventory and low housing affordability continue to hamper home sales.\u2019\u2019 He also issued a warning to the Federal Reserve about the need to rein in interest rates, arguing that there\u2019s no longer a case for raising them any further: \u2018\u2019The Federal Reserve simply cannot keep raising interest rates in light of softening inflation and weakening job gains.\u2019\u2019&nbsp;<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">A deeper look at the data shows that rising mortgage rates are indeed impacting housing affordability, but not quite to the extent that might be expected, given the huge mortgage rate hikes seen over the past two years. The number of first-time buyers, who are the main barometer of affordability in any housing market, declined a modest 2% month-over-month and 1% year-over-year.&nbsp;<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><a class=\"editor-rtfLink\" href=\"https:\/\/www.biggerpockets.com\/blog\/money-429\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">First-time buyers<\/span><\/a><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">&nbsp;now make up 27% of all existing homebuyers, down from 29% in August. It\u2019s not that there isn\u2019t a problem with housing affordability\u2014there is. However, it doesn\u2019t seem that first-time buyers are significantly deterred by current high mortgage rates. There certainly isn\u2019t an exodus of first-time buyers, the 7.57% average 30-year mortgage rate (up from 6.92% a year ago) notwithstanding.<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">An interesting\u2014though, again, modest\u2014shift is happening in the all-cash buyer segment of existing home sales. In September,&nbsp;<\/span><a class=\"editor-rtfLink\" href=\"https:\/\/www.biggerpockets.com\/blog\/cash-transactions-now-making-up-a-third-of-sales\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">cash buyers<\/span><\/a><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">&nbsp;represented 29% of all existing home sales, up 2% from August. This is a steady upward trend: cash buyers made up only 22% of the total number of existing home sales in August 2022. At the same time, the number of individual investors has gone up to 18%\u2014a 2% gain over August 2023 and a 3% gain over August 2022.&nbsp;<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">There is a considerable overlap between cash buyers and investors, so investors buying homes with cash are at least partially responsible for the overall increase in the number of cash sales. Becoming a cash buyer always gives a competitive edge, so it\u2019s no wonder that investors are employing this strategy in a housing market with severely limited inventories.&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">Regional Differences&nbsp;&nbsp;<\/span><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">Regionally, everywhere saw a decline in existing home sales, except the Northeast.<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">Sales in the Northeast went up by 4.2% month-over-month, though they are still down 16.7% year-over-year. All other regions showed declining monthly and annual home sales, with the West showing the biggest month-over-month and year-over-year declines, at 5.3% and 19.3%, respectively.&nbsp;<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">Yun explains the upward trend in home sales in the Northeast as \u2018\u2019resulting from higher demand coupled with inventory falling by 20%,\u2019\u2019 while the softening of activity in the West is almost certainly due to a course correction \u201cafter years of unsustainable and rapid price increases, especially in the Rocky Mountain region.\u2019\u2019&nbsp;<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">Home prices continued to grow in all regions, the West included. However, the rates of price increases are now modest, ranging from just 1.8% in the West to 5.2% in the Northeast. The median home price is still the highest in the West at $606,100 as of September 2023. The lowest median existing home prices are in the Midwest, at $293,300. Overall, the median existing home price in September 2023 was $394,300, up from $383,500 (2.8%) a year ago.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">The Bottom Line<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">Should investors rush to&nbsp;<\/span><a class=\"editor-rtfLink\" href=\"https:\/\/www.biggerpockets.com\/blog\/are-the-rust-belt-and-northeast-the-new-south-for-real-estate-investment\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">buy real estate in the Northeast<\/span><\/a><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">&nbsp;based on the current data? Not necessarily\u2014unless you already are building a portfolio in this region. The Northeast represents densely populated, traditionally desirable (and expensive) coastal areas and New York City. These areas are guaranteed to continue having a supply-demand gap for years to come.&nbsp;<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">This doesn\u2019t mean that other regions present worse investment opportunities\u2014only that they don\u2019t have quite the same level of existing home inventory deficiency. What investors should be looking at right now is\u00a0<\/span><a class=\"editor-rtfLink\" href=\"https:\/\/www.biggerpockets.com\/blog\/quarter-one-2023-moving-trends\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">areas across the country<\/span><\/a><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">\u00a0that have resilient job markets and attractive local communities that will keep drawing in new first-time buyers and renters.<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n    \n  <div id=\"visibility-group-block_84ea79a7959406186b3dcb31bdfef28b\" class=\"visibility-group alignwide  hidden\">\n        \n\n<div id=\"hero-block_049cfbcf1a9551eb34cf6b6a5805535b\" class=\"first:mt-0 hero-block py-4  alignwide   has-background has-slate-200-background-color has-text-color has-theme-gold-color\">\n    <div\n        class=\"gap-10 lg:gap-20 flex flex-wrap lg:flex-nowrap max-w-screen-xl mx-auto px-4 relative lg:items-center \">\n\n        <div class=\"relative z-30 lg:w-1\/2 \">\n            <main class=\"py-4\">\n                \n\n<p class=\"has-slate-800-color has-text-color has-large-font-size\" style=\"font-style:normal;font-weight:800\">Find the Right Agent, Close the Best Deal<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"my-3 md:my-5 lg:my-8 has-slate-900-color has-text-color\" style=\"font-size:18px\">Step #1: Use Agent Finder to match with top <em><strong>investor-friendly<\/strong><\/em> real estate agents to help you find, analyze, and close your next deal.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div id=button-custom-event-block_6836d80a040c3ca94e9084d8d7ff033e class='button-custom-event'>\n      <a href=\"https:\/\/www.biggerpockets.com\/agent\/match\" x-on:click=\"window.analytics.track(&#039;Blog Block | B2C Marketplace Agent Finder&#039;, {\n      referrer: &#039;https:\/\/www.biggerpockets.com\/blog\/existing-home-sales-report-september-2023&#039;,\n    });\" class=\" btn-shape inline-block no-underline has-background has-theme-blue-background-color has-text-color has-white-color\" target=\"_blank\">Find an Agent<\/a>\n  <\/div>\n\n            <\/main>\n        <\/div>\n\n                <div class=\"lg:w-1\/2 first:mt-0 relative h-full lg:flex lg:items-center\">\n            <img decoding=\"async\" class=\"object-cover w-full relative z-20 my-0  rounded-md hidden lg:block\" src=\"https:\/\/www.biggerpockets.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/08\/Marketplace-Blog-Blocks-Agent-v3.png\" alt=\"investor friendly real estate agent\" title=\"\">\n        <\/div>\n            <\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n  <\/div>\n  \n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-group\"><div class=\"wp-block-group__inner-container is-layout-constrained wp-block-group-is-layout-constrained\">\n    \n  <div id=\"visibility-group-block_64dd31c79f00f\" class=\"visibility-group  \">\n        \n\n<div style=\"height:10px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n\n\n\n<div id=\"hero-block_64dd2875dba9d\" class=\"first:mt-0 hero-block py-4    has-background has-slate-100-background-color has-text-color has-theme-slate-color\">\n    <div\n        class=\" flex flex-wrap lg:flex-nowrap max-w-screen-xl mx-auto px-4 relative lg:items-center \">\n\n        <div class=\"relative z-30 w-full \">\n            <main class=\"py-4\">\n                \n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading my-0 tracking-tight font-extrabold has-theme-slate-dark-color has-text-color has-large-font-size\">Join the community<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"my-3 md:my-5 lg:my-8 has-theme-slate-color has-text-color\" style=\"font-size:16px;font-style:normal;font-weight:400\">Ready to succeed in real estate investing? Create a free BiggerPockets account to learn about investment strategies; ask questions and get answers from our community of +2 million members; connect with investor-friendly agents; and so much more. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<div id=button-custom-event-block_64dd2888dba9e class='button-custom-event'>\n      <a href=\"https:\/\/www.biggerpockets.com\/signup\" x-on:click=\"window.analytics.track(&#039;Blog Block | Acquisition | Free Membership Signup&#039;, {\n      referrer: &#039;https:\/\/www.biggerpockets.com\/blog\/existing-home-sales-report-september-2023&#039;,\n    });\" class=\" btn-shape inline-block no-underline has-background has-theme-blue-background-color has-text-color has-white-color\" target=\"_blank\">Sign Up<\/a>\n  <\/div>\n\n            <\/main>\n        <\/div>\n\n            <\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n<div style=\"height:10px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n\n\n  <\/div>\n  <\/div><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Home sales have been declining month-over-month throughout the year, but this region is moving in the opposite direction. Here&#8217;s what you need to know.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":613618,"featured_media":160983,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-160980","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-real-estate-trends"],"acf":[],"comment_count":0,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.biggerpockets.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/160980","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.biggerpockets.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.biggerpockets.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.biggerpockets.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/613618"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.biggerpockets.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=160980"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.biggerpockets.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/160980\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.biggerpockets.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/160983"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.biggerpockets.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=160980"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.biggerpockets.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=160980"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.biggerpockets.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=160980"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}