Has the housing market run out of gas? Existing-home sales ran at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 5.15 million in September, the National Association of Realtors said last week, which was a 3.4 percent decline from August. It was the lowest pace of sales since November 2015.
Sales of previously owned homes had stabilized in August after declining for four straight months, so September’s drop came as a bit of a surprise. Sales were 4.1 percent lower than year-ago levels.
On the other hand, the median sales price in September was $258,100, which was 4.2 percent higher than a year earlier. Inventory is ticking up gradually: At the current pace of sales, it would take 4.4 months to exhaust available supply, up from 4.3 months last month. And it’s taking properties longer to get snatched up: Homes stayed on the market for 32 days in September, up from 29 days in August.
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