Existing home sales notch 12th month of decline 

Mortgage rates have been on a roller coaster in the last year, but existing home sales remained  consistent in a consistent slump with a year-long slide to their lowest level in over 12 years. 

Sales fell for the 12th straight month in January, according to a report from the National Association of Realtors. While completed transactions of existing homes — single-family, townhomes, condos and co-ops — decreased just 0.7 percent from December, they decreased 36.9 percent year over year to an adjusted annual rate of 4 million.

“Home sales are bottoming out,” NAR chief economist Lawrence Yun said in a statement.

That’s the case in markets across the country. In each of the four regions tracked by NAR, there was a year over year decrease in existing home sales. Two regions, however, sported an increase from December: the South and the West.

Inventory, while historically low, increased 2.1 percent from December and 15.3 percent year over year. Unsold inventory is unchanged from December, but the 2.9-month of supply is almost double the 1.6-month of supply from a year earlier.

Properties were on the market for an average of 33 days in January, a week longer than in December and two weeks longer than in January 2022. Yun said homes on the market for more than two months could give buyers a 10 percent discount from the original list price.

The median price for an existing home in January was $359,000, up 1.3 percent year over year. Prices rose in three of the four regions, the West proving to be the exception. Annual increases are going 131 months strong, the longest streak recorded.

All-cash sales inched up to 29 percent of transactions in January, up 1 percentage point from December and 2 percentage points from last January. That’s despite mortgage rates seemingly settling below 6.5 percent, a significant drop from their peak in the fall (though still much higher than this time a year ago).

The uptick in all-cash sales also came as investors — who are typically responsible for a sizable share of cash deals — continued a retreat from the housing market. They accounted for 16 percent of home purchases last month, the same as December but 6 percentage points below the mark from a year ago.