According to the December National Association of REALTORS® report, existing home sales tracked up in 2019. The December AAR of sales clocked 5.54 million, rising 3.6% month-over-month and 10.8 percent year-over-year.
Single-families, condos, co-ops, and townhomes had a median price of $274,500, which reflects a +7.8% YOY. The median price for single-family sales was $276,900, while condos pulled $255,400.
REGIONAL STATISTICS (%'s represent YoY)
Midwest
Existing-Home Sales (EHS): $1,299,000 (+9.2% YoY)
Median Price (MP): $208,500 (+9.2% YoY)
Northeast
EHS: $740,000 (+8.8% YoY)
MP: $304,400 (+7.4% YoY)
South
EHS: $2,360,000 million (+12.4% YoY)
MP: $240,500 (+6.7% YoY)
West
EHS: 1.14 million (+10.7% YoY)
MP: $411,800 (+8.1% YoY)
Inventory at the end of 2019 was at a 3.0-month supply. The days on market was at 41-- 5 days less than the year prior. Of the homes sold in December, 43% sold in under a month.
The adjusted annualized rate of sales in December showed 4,920,000 single-families, and 620,000 condo/co-ops sold. Twenty percent of all those sales were to cash buyers. We saw 17% go to investors or non-first-timers, while 31% of sales went to first time home buyers.
“I view 2019 as a neutral year for housing in terms of sales,” Lawrence Yun, chief economist at NAR, says. “Home sellers are positioned well, but prospective buyers aren’t as fortunate. Low inventory remains a problem, with first-time buyers affected the most.”
The chief economist at the National Association of Realtors viewed 2019 as a neutral year in housing. Witnessing a sellers market which had buyers dealing with low demand. The President of NAR expected 2020 would see a great year in housing.
The chief economist of the Mortgage Bankers Association, Mike Fratantoni, was quoted saying “We expect that home sales will rise in 2020, as additional new housing construction has come onto the market, and the job market remains strong and mortgage rates are low.”
Bill Banfield, chief risk officer at Quicken Loans, said in a statement: “Low interest rates in 2019 helped buyers make the leap to purchase more existing homes. While December’s jump in home construction is positive as well, it will not sufficiently meet the demand likely to occur in 2020. This will continue to push prices upwards, stretching first-time buyers, who make up nearly a third of the market.”
2020 was as unpredictable as they come, but we saw some truth from those quotes. Another seller's market with high demand and low supply, causing budding wars to erupt across the country-- Boston feeling it particularly hard because we are the best.