The good news is out! The National Association of Realtors (NAR) just released that existing home sales in the month of June are at a record high. On top of that, the median prices for existing homes also surpassed the price peak for the first time in eight years. Both sales growth and price increases were seen all over the country.
NAR’s June report states that all existing home sales, which includes cooperative apartments, condominiums, townhomes and single family homes, showed a 3.2% increase from the previous months and a 9.6% increase from June of last year.
According to Lawrence Yun, NAR’s chief economist, this positive growth in sales is due to a wave of demand from potential buyers. With a growing economy backed by steady job growth, more people have the money to purchase a home. Because there is a limited inventory of existing homes, the market is pushing home prices up.
The housing market is now experiencing an interesting supply and demand imbalance. In some metropolitan areas, the demand for existing homes far outweighs the supply. In turn, this is creating situations with several bidders and higher home prices. In some cases, homeowners are still tentative to sell their home because they’re not sure they will find another affordable house to purchase.
With spring’s first phase of rising mortgage rates, many prospective buyers are jumping at the opportunity to buy now instead of later. This means good news for potential sellers all over America.