December 2019 US housing market data reveals that existing home sales saw a rise. This comes after a reported drop in November, according to data from the National Association of Realtors (NAR).
Existing Home Sales
The last month of 2019 saw an increase of 3.6% month-over-month in total existing home sales which includes completed real estate transactions on single-family homes, condominiums, coops, and townhouses. This put the seasonally-adjusted rate for December at 5.54 million. Looking at year-over-year (YOY) growth for total sales, the end of 2019 also saw a jump of 10.8% from December 2018’s 5 million.
Data by region shows that:
- South- total existing home sales up by 2.2% YOY
- West- total existing home sales down by 1.8% YOY
- Midwest- total existing home sales down by 1.6% YOY
- Northeast– total existing home sales remained the same YOY
Looking at existing home sales for all of 2019, it stood at 5.34 million- about the same as it was the year prior. Lawrence Yun, Chief Economist at NAR, commented on 2019 home sale trends:
I view 2019 as a neutral year for housing in terms of sales,” Yun said. “Home sellers are positioned well, but prospective buyers aren’t as fortunate. Low inventory remains a problem, with first-time buyers affected the most.
Median Existing Home Price
As sales saw a boost, so did the median existing home price for all types of real estate in the US housing market. There was a YOY increase of 7.8%, with the median price reaching $274,500, marking 94 straight months of YOY price appreciation. Median prices were up across all major regions in the US housing market, with the Midwest leading the way for price appreciation.
Housing Inventory
Housing inventory continued to drop in December 2019. Compared to November, inventory was down by 14.6% to 1.40 million units. YOY, there was a drop of 8.5%.
The real estate market is at 3 months of supply based on the current pace of home sales. This was a drop from the 3.7 month supply maintained the month before and in December of 2018. 2019 saw a 7-month consecutive YOY drop in unsold housing inventory.
Looking at days on the market (DOM), homes for sale remained on the market for 41 days in December, up from November’s 38 DOM (a typical rise seen during the winter real estate market). However, DOM is down from 46 the same time last year. 34% of properties sold during the last month of 2019 stayed on the market for less than a month.
2020 US Housing Market Outlook
More and more real estate investors are entering the US housing market, making up 17% of home sales in December (up MOM and YOY). Although there were fewer first-time homebuyers in the market at the end of 2019, Yun says that real estate market conditions are looking good for property buyers now and this is likely to continue in the 2020 US housing market.
We saw the year come to a close with the economy churning out 2.3 million jobs, mortgage rates below 4% and housing starts ramp up to 1.6 million on an annual basis. If these factors are sustained in 2020, we will see a notable pickup in home sales in 2020.
Related: Is Now a Good Time to Buy a House? Experts Say Yes
Sign up now to Mashvisor to stay updated on real estate news around the US.
