Steel Markets

Existing Home Sales Soar to Monthly Record Increase

August 21, 2020

Existing-home sales made a record monthly jump of 24.7 percent in July to a seasonally adjusted rate of 5.86 million. Sales have soared the past two months.

“The housing market is well past the recovery phase and is now booming with higher home sales compared to the pre-pandemic days,” said Lawrence Yun, National Association of Realtors’ chief economist. “With the sizable shift in remote work, current homeowners are looking for larger homes and this will lead to a secondary level of demand even into 2021.”

The median existing-home price in July was $304,100, an 8.5 percent increase from July 2019 and the first time ever that the national median price exceeded $300,000.

Inventory tightened to 1.5 million units, falling 2.6 percent from June and 21.1 percent from a year ago. Inventory is at a 3.1 month supply at the current sales rate. Plummeting inventory will have a substantial effect on future sales, said Yun.

“The number of new listings is increasing, but they are quickly taken out of the market from heavy buyer competition,” he said. “More homes need to be built.”

Single-family home sales surged 23.9 percent to a SAAR of 5.28 million in July accompanied by an 8.5 percent year-over-year median price increase to $307,800.

Condos and co-op sales soared 31.8 percent from June and were equal to a year ago. The median existing condo price jumped 6.4 percent from last year to $270,100.

Sales in all regions jumped by double digits on a month-over-month basis and only the Northeast showed a decline in year-over-year sales.

Sales in the Northeast skyrocketed 30.6 percent from June and declined 5.9 percent from a year ago. The median price jumped 4.0 percent from July 2019 to $317,000.

Midwest sales jumped 27.5 percent from June and the median price increased 8 percent to $244,500.

Sales in the South climbed 19.4 percent and the median sales price increased 9.9 percent to $268,500.

Existing-home sales in the West nearly matched the Northeast with a 30.5 percent increase from June. The median price rose 11.3 percent to $453,800.