Amid high-interest rates, US pending home sales decline to all-time low: Report

NEW DELHI: Real estate in the US has been trapped in a state of abeyance as the housing market dips to record-low, resulting in a drop in pending home sales, reported the New York Post citing a report from the National Association of Realtors.

According to the report, "the US housing market has never moved so little".

In October, the rate of pending home sales saw a notable decline of 1.5% compared to September, marking the lowest figure ever recorded for this metric since its inception in 2001, according to the trade group's data. Additionally, the report highlighted an 8.5% year-over-year decrease in transactions across all four regions of the United States.

One of the reasons being attributed to the decline is the "low supply and languishing high mortgage rates" aimed to curb inflation.

“During October, mortgage rates were at their highest, and contract signings for existing homes were at their lowest in more than 20 years,” Lawrence Yun, NAR chief economist told The Post.

“Recent weeks’ successive declines in mortgage rates will help qualify more home buyers, but limited housing inventory is significantly preventing housing demand from fully being satisfied. Multiple offers, of course, yield only one winner, with the rest left to continue their search," Yun said.

Despite the ongoing decline in rates, there is no indication of improvement in the inventory issue in the foreseeable future. However, markets with higher inventory levels are experiencing significant benefits from this situation.

“Home sales are rising in places where more inventory is available,” Yun said.

“Sales for properties priced above $750,000 were higher than a year ago because there is more inventory at this price point than what we saw last October,” he said.

"Newly built home sales are also up year-over-year, by 4.5%," The Post reported.

Yun said that it is crucial to persistently prioritize increasing housing supply through various measures in every part of the country in the months ahead.