Sales of previously owned homes fell for the ninth straight month in October, one other indicator that inflation and better mortgage rates are slowing the U.S. housing market dramatically.
The National Association of Realtors said Friday that sales of existing homes fell 5.9% in October from the previous month. Sales were down 28.4% yr over yr, the slowest pace of sales since 2011.
The short slowdown in home sales comes because the Federal Reserve raises rates of interest aggressively to curb inflation that hit a 41-year high last June.
Home mortgage rates on a 30-year fixed loan have greater than doubled this yr to greater than 7%, although rates did fall this week.
Housing inventory stays low, leading to home prices still rising in lots of regions. The median price of an existing home in October was $379,100, up at an annual rate of 6.6%.
