Here we go with another new high. The median existing-home price for all housing increased to $269,600′ this surpassed last July’s $258,100. The 4.5% increase from last July represents the 77th consecutive straight month of year-over-year gains.
As expected, total housing inventory fell by half a percent at the close of July 2018 to 1.92 million homes available in inventory for sale.
The good news about this is the supply number hasn’t changed in the last year. According to the National Association of Realtors, the unsold inventory of homes on the market represents a 4.3-month supply.
It remains still common for homes to sell in under 30 days. According to the report, properties remained on the market an average of 27 days in July. This showed a one-day increase from June but did show a reduction from 2017 from 30 days. Another interesting metric is that the report issued by the NAR indicates that 55% of homes stayed on the market for less than a month. Obviously, this reflects a strong, resilient, and growing market.
The first-time buyers still represent about a third of all the transactions, reflecting a slight decrease from the prior year, from 32% to 31% of all transactions.
The interest rate for fixed mortgages also fell from the prior month from 4.57% to 4.53%.
The buyers are still in the market, but they are negotiating and not always taking the list price. The weakening of affordability is putting more pressure on the first-time buyers to find more creative ways of getting into their first home, since rents continue to increase.