US existing-home sales fall 5.5% to the slowest pace since 2010
October sales dropped to a 3.75 million annual rate. September was revised lower to 3.97 million.
US sales of previously owned homes fell 5.5% in October to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 3.75 million, the slowest pace since August 2010. The National Association of Realtors said sales declined in the Midwest, South and West and were unchanged in the Northeast.
September's annual rate was revised to 3.97 million from the previously reported 3.99 million. Sales were lower than a year earlier in all four regions.
The report describes completed existing-home transactions, not new-home sales or newly signed contracts. The annualized rate is a seasonally adjusted measure of the monthly sales pace, not the number of homes sold during October. Higher mortgage rates have made borrowing more expensive for buyers, while the weaker transaction pace does not by itself establish a matching decline in home prices.
