Existing Home Sales Blow The Doors Off

The housing market continues to blow the doors off, with total annualized existing home sales coming in at a rate of 6.85mm in October, including 6.12mm single-family units. Those numbers are only 5.7% and 3.5% respectively below the record levels from the housing bubble of the mid-2000s. Check out the enormous numbers recently in the chart below:

Unlike during the prior housing bubble, inventories are extremely low now both on an absolute basis (down 20% YoY for all homes and 23% YoY for single-family) and relative to demand; both total existing and single-family home inventories are below 2.4 months of demand. Inventories relative to demand are half of what they were at the last housing market peak on a months’ supply basis.

With so much demand for homes and so little supply, prices have exploded higher in the past few months. After adjusting for seasonality, prices are up a staggering 15% since the May lows, driven by both strong demand and a shift in mix towards higher-priced homes.