Sales in the secondary housing market in the United States in January increased by 3.1% compared to the previous month and amounted to a five-month high of 4 million homes at an annualized rate, according to a report by the National Association of Realtors (NAR).
According to the revised data, sales totaled 3.88 million homes in December 2023.
Analysts on average expected the figure to rise to 3.97 million homes from the previously announced December level of 3.78 million, Trading Economics reports.
Resales of housing in the United States in January were 1.7% lower than a year earlier.
The median house price increased for the seventh consecutive month – by 5.1% in annual terms – and reached $379.1 thousand, updating the historical high for January.
The number of homes offered for sale at the end of last month amounted to 1.01 million, which is 3.1% higher than a year earlier and 2% higher than in December. At the current rate of sales, it would take 3 months to sell the homes for sale, compared to 3.1 months in December. It is believed that a six-month lead time indicates a balanced market, and less than five months indicates a tense situation.
Houses were sold in January in an average of 36 days, compared to 29 days in December and 33 days in January last year.
The secondary market accounts for about 90% of contracts for the purchase of housing in the United States, and they are taken into account in the statistics only after the transaction is completed.
