Having inched up a downwardly revised 0.4 percent in September, the pace of existing-home sales in the U.S. ticked up 2.0 percent in October to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 5.48 million transactions but remains 0.9 percent lower versus the same time last year.
And having slipped 3.3 percent in September, the median price of the homes that traded hands in October inched up 0.8 percent to $247,000, which is 5.5 percent higher than at the same time last year, as the inventory of existing homes on the market dropped 3.2 percent to 1.80 million which is 10.4 percent lower on a year-over-year basis.
Out West, the pace of existing-home sales ticked up 2.4 percent in October to an annual rate of 1.27 million sales, which is 0.8 percent above the pace at the same time last year, while the median price ticked up 3.4 percent to $375,100 which is still 7.8 percent higher versus the same time last year.