Existing Home Sales at Highest Level Since 2006

The National Association of Realtors® (NAR) reports that total existing home sales, completed transactions that include single-family homes, townhomes, condominiums, and co-ops increased 0.7% from November 2020, to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 6.76 million in December. Year-over-year sales in total were up from December 2019 by 22.2%. According to the NAR home sales in 2020 having reached their highest level since 2006. At the end of December unsold inventory sits at an all-time low of 1.9 months supply at the current sales pace, down from 2.3 months in November 2020. In remarks prepared for the report’s release, Lawrence Yun, NAR’s chief economist said, “Home sales rose in December, and for 2020 as a whole, we saw sales perform at their highest levels since 2006, despite the pandemic. What’s even better is that this momentum is likely to carry into the new year, with more buyers expected to enter the market.”