October’s sales numbers have begun trickling in and all signs point to yet another record month for home sales. According to Realtor.com, last month marked the eighth straight month of buyers picking up homes more quickly than the fastest pace in previous years. Additionally, October saw fewer new sellers entering the market than last year.
The typical U.S. home spent 45 days on market in October, up slightly from 3 days in September. However, homes still sold more quickly than in any October in recent history, including 2020 (-8 days) and 2019 (-21 days).
Relative to national time on market in October, homes sold at a faster pace in the 50 largest U.S. metros in October, at an average of 39 days (-8 days year-over-year).
“The year may be winding down, but 2021’s feverish pace of home sales continues to hit new records. Despite returns to more typical pre-COVID seasonality which means a slower fall versus summer season, October housing data suggests that demand is still unseasonably high,” said Realtor.com Chief Economist Danielle Hale. “A number of factors could be enabling buyers to persist, including rising mortgage rates and surging rental prices”
The South continued to lead in yearly declines in time on market (-10 days) by region and in terms of the top five fastest selling metros compared to last year, which were: Miami (-31 days), Raleigh (-30 days), Jacksonville (-17 days), Orlando (-17 days) and Memphis (-16 days).
Nationally, new listings declined 2.3 percent from October 2020, with the biggest drops registered in the northeast (-8.5 percent) and west (-8 percent). While big metros saw smaller new seller declines than last month, new listings remain 11.6 percent lower in 2017-2019.