US existing home sales fall to lowest in more than 13 years

ISTANBUL

US existing home sales fell 4.1% in October to their lowest since August 2010, according to data released Tuesday by the National Association of Realtors (NAR).

Existing home sales, which measures the change in the number of existing residential buildings sold, fell to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 3.79 million last month.

The revised September figure stood at 3.95 million for a monthly decline of 2.2%.

Sales were down 14.6% from 4.44 million in October 2022.

"Prospective home buyers experienced another difficult month due to the persistent lack of housing inventory and the highest mortgage rates in a generation," NAR chief economist Lawrence Yun said in a statement.

"Multiple offers, however, are still occurring, especially on starter and mid-priced homes, even as price concessions are happening in the upper end of the market," he added.

The median existing-home sales price was $391,800 -- an increase of 3.4% from October 2022 when it stood at $378,800.