WASHINGTON (dpa-AFX) - Partly reflecting the impact of high mortgage rates, the National Association of Realtors released a report on Thursday showing a steep drop in existing home sales in the U.S. in the month of October.
NAR said existing home sales plunged by 5.5 percent to an annual rate of 3.75 million in October after jumping by 1 percent to a revised rate of 3.97 million in September.
Economists had expected existing home sales to tumble by 3.5 percent to an annual rate of 3.85 million from the 3.99 million originally reported for the previous month.
With the much sharper-than-expected pullback, existing home sales slumped to their lowest level since August 2010.
'Home buying is difficult when mortgage rates have climbed to their highest levels since 2000, aside from a single month in 2023,' said NAR Chief Economist Lawrence Yun.
The steep drop in existing home sales partly reflected weakness in the West and South, where existing home sales plummeted by 9.7 percent and 6.5 percent, respectively.
Existing home sales in the Midwest also tumbled by 3.2 percent, while existing home sales in the Northeast were unchanged.
NAR also said housing inventory at the end of October totaled 1.59 million units, up 1.3 percent from 1.57 million units in September and up 4.6 percent from 1.52 million units a year ago.
The unsold inventory represents 5.1 months of supply at the current sales pace, up from 4.7 months in September and 4.4 months in October 2025.
The report also said the median existing home price was $416,700 in October, down 0.4 percent from $418,2000 in September but up 0.4 percent from $414,900 a year ago.
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