Sept. Existing Home Sales Soar 9.4%, expecting to continue through the Holiday Season.

Americans are buying homes. Sales rose 22% year-to-year as inventory hit a record low (2.7 months) and more than 70% of homes were on the market less than a month.

Existing-home sales grew for the fourth consecutive month in September, according to the National Association of Realtors® (NAR), and each of the four major regions saw month-over-month and year-over-year growth.

Sales in vacation destination counties have seen a strong acceleration since July, with a 34% year-over-year gain in September.

Total existing-home sales – completed transactions that include single-family homes, townhomes, condominiums and co-ops – rose 9.4% from August to a seasonally-adjusted annual rate of 6.54 million in September. Overall sales rose 20.9% year-over-year, up from 5.41 million in September 2019.

“Home sales traditionally taper off toward the end of the year, but in September they surged beyond what we normally see during this season,” says Lawrence Yun, NAR’s chief economist. “I would attribute this jump to record-low interest rates and an abundance of buyers in the marketplace, including buyers of vacation homes given the greater flexibility to work from home.”

“There is no shortage of hopeful, potential buyers, but inventory is historically low,” Yun says. “To their credit, we have seen some homebuilders move to ramp up supply, but a need for even more production still exists.”

Existing-home sales in the South increased 8.5% to an annual rate of 2.80 million in September, up 22.3% from the same time one year ago. The median price in the South was $266,900, a 13.0% increase from a year ago.