Steel Markets
November 22, 2018
Increase in October Home Sales Offset by Annual Decline
Written by Sandy Williams
After six months of decline, existing-home sales showed some improvement in October. Completed transactions for single-family homes, condos, townhomes and co-ops increased 1.4 percent from September to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 5.22 million, according to data from the National Association of Realtors.
The increase was tempered by a 5.1 percent drop in sales compared to a year ago, the largest annual decline since October 2014. The annual decline suggests that the housing sector will continue to soften in the coming months, said Lawrence Yun, NAR chief economist. “There is some feeling that the market could actually go even lower than what it is now in terms of sales,” Yun said.
