Having dropped 1.7 percent in August, the pace of existing-home sales in the U.S. inched up 0.7 percent in September to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 5.39 million transactions but is now 1.5 percent lower than at the same time last year and the second lowest pace in the past twelve months.
At the same time, the median price of the homes that traded hands in September dropped 3.3 percent to $245,100 but remains 4.2 percent higher than at the same time last year, which is down from 5.6 percent higher on a year-over-year basis the month before, as the inventory of existing homes on the market increased 1.6 percent to 1.90 million but remains 6.4 percent lower on a year-over-year basis.
And out West, the pace of existing-home sales ticked up 3.3 percent in September to an annual rate of 1.24 million sales, which is now even with the pace of sales at the same time last year, while the median price dropped 3.2 percent to $362,700 which is still 5.0 percent higher versus the same time last year but down from 7.7 higher in August.