WASHINGTON (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 22nd February, 2023) Sales of existing homes in the United States fell for the 12th month in a row in January as rising mortgage rates kept a chokehold on the market for previously transacted houses, the country's realtors' group said on Tuesday.
Sales of existing homes � which include single-family homes, townhouses, condominiums and co-ops � fell almost 37% in January from a year ago and 0.7% from December, the National Association of Realtors, or NAR, said in a report.
"Home sales are bottoming out," NAR chief economist Lawrence Yun said in the report. "prices vary depending on a market's affordability, with lower-priced regions witnessing modest growth and more expensive regions experiencing declines."
The slump of the housing market actually began in February 2022 and marked the longest streak of month-to-month decline of home sales on record. Prior weak stretches occurred in 1999 for all types of homes and in 1968 for single-family homes.
The current malaise comes from the surge in mortgage rates over the past year as the Federal Reserve raised interest rates persistently to fight runaway inflation.� Mortgage rates ranged from 6.13% to 6.48% in January, versus 3.22% to 3.55% a year ago.
Despite weak interest from buyers, inventory of homes on the market remained historically low, the NAR said.
"Homes are sitting on the market longer," explained Yun. "But there are fewer fresh listings coming to market this January compared to last January. This is due to homeowners loving their low interest rate and not wanting to give it up and put their home on the market."
