Despite the recent housing shortage and pricing surge, home sales surprisingly increased by 2% in September. According to The National Association of Realtors, sales of pre-owned single family houses, townhouses, condominiums, and cooperative apartments rose 7% in September.
Last year, the median existing-home price was recorded at $311,500. This year, single-family home prices rose 13.8% to a median of $359,700 and existing condos appreciated 9.3% to $297,900.
The number of single-family home sales rose by 400,000 units month-over-month, a 7.7% increase, but this was down 3.1% from sales the prior September. Existing condominium and co-op sales, however, were recorded at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 700,000 units, up 1.4% from 690,000 in August and 4.5% growth from one year ago.
On average, properties typically remained on the market for 17 days in September, unchanged from August and down from 21 days in September 2020. A total of 86% of homes sold in September were on the market for less than a month.
Throughout California, and the West Coast specifically, existing-home sales climbed 6.5% registering an annual rate of 1,310,000 units. In addition, an 8.3% annual price increase brought the median price up to $506,300.
Some analysts are saying that as mortgage forbearance programs end, and as homebuilders ramp up production (despite the supply-chain material issues), we are likely to see more homes on the market as soon as 2022 which will hopefully accommodate the demand.
For more information on the current housing market, please reach out to us at (760) 930-0569 and one of our loan officers will be happy to answer any questions you may have.