Home sales declined for the ninth straight month in October, as higher interest rates and surging inflation kept buyers on the sidelines.Sales of previously owned homes dropped 5.9% from September to October, according to the National Association of Realtors. That is the slowest pace since December 2011, with the exception of a very brief drop at the beginning of the Covid-19 pandemic.The October reading put sales at a seasonally adjusted, annualized pace of 4.43 million units. Sales were 28.4% lower year over year.Even as sales slow, supply is still stubbornly low. There were 1.22 million homes for sale at the end of October, an decrease of just under 1% both month to month and year over year. That’s a 3.3-month supply at the current sales pace. Historically, a balanced market is considered to be a six-month supply.Read more real estate coverageThe median price of an existing home sold in October was $379,100, an increase of 6.6% from the year before. The price gains, however, are shrinking, as the seasonal drop in home prices thi …
