US existing home sales up in October

By Mucahithan Avcioglu

ISTANBUL (AA) – Existing home sales in the US rose 1.2% in October, slightly more than market expectations, the National Association of Realtors (NAR) announced on Thursday.

The number of existing home sales in the country amounted to 4.1 million last month, up from 4.05 million in September.

Month-on-month sales increased in the Midwest and South regions, showed no change in the Northeast, and fell in the West.

Existing home sales also increased by 1.7% year-on-year last month.

Year-on-year sales rose in the Northeast, Midwest, and South and decreased in the West.

The median home price in the US existing home market rose 2.1% year-on-year in October to $415,200.

Lawrence Yun, chief economist at NAR, noted that the sales increased in October even with the government shutdown due to homebuyers taking advantage of lower mortgage rates.

"Rents are decelerating, which will reduce inflation and encourage the Federal Reserve to continue cutting rates and pulling back their quantitative tightening. This will help bring more homebuyers into the market since the Fed rate has an indirect impact on mortgage rates," he said.