Existing home sales increased 1.4% in October to a seasonally adjusted 4.97 million-unit rate, after a downwardly revised 4.90 million unit rate in September, the National Association of Realtors announced Monday.
Economists polled by Thomson Reuters predicted 4.80 million sales.
On a year-over-year basis, sales overall were up 13.5% from a 4.38 million-unit sales pace last October.
Sales rose in three of the four regions of the country in October, decreasing 5.1% in the Northeast to 750,000, climbing 2.8% to 1.10 million units in the Midwest, and jumping 2.1% in the South to 1.94 million. In the West sales grew 4.4% to 1.19 million units, the NAR said.
Inventory levels sank 2.2% at the end of October, to 3.33 million existing homes for sale, representing an 8.0-month supply at the current sales pace, down from 8.3 months in the September report.
Meanwhile, the national median existing home price was $162,500 in October, off 4.7% from a year ago.
The national average 30-year, fixed-rate mortgage was a record low 4.07%, down from September’s 4.11%, the NAR said. The rate was 4.23% in October 2010.
