November Monthly Market Comparison-HAR Report
November marked the eighth consecutive month of negative sales as the market endures a perfect storm of economic challenges, including inflation, elevated interest rates and pricing, limited inventory and the start of the holiday shopping season. Year-over-year single-family home sales fell 30.4 percent, but when compared to November 2019 – before the pandemic – sales were down just 8.4 percent despite the doubling of interest rates. On a year-to-date basis, sales are trailing last year’s record pace by 8.8 percent.
The monthly housing measurements for November offer a mixed bag of readings. In addition to the drop in single-family home sales, total property sales and total dollar volume fell; single-family pending sales declined by 28.3 percent. Active listings (the total number of available properties) is up 51.3 percent compared to last year, but remains below pre-pandemic levels.
Months of inventory continues to improve, growing to a 2.9-months supply in November. That is the highest level since July 2020 when it also was 2.9 months. Housing inventory nationally stands at a 3.3-months supply, according to the latest report from the National Association of Realtors (NAR). A 6.0-months supply is generally considered make up a “balanced market,” in which the buyer and seller are on equal footing.