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US Home Sales Slump 10.5% in November

The rate of US home sales fell in November as buyers struggled with new regulation.The National Association of Realtors (NAR) said existing home sales decreased by 10.5% in November, despite continued demand.

US Home Sales Slump

The pace of sales was the slowest since April 2014.

NAR chief economist Lawrence Yun said “sparse inventory and affordability issues” continued, but new rules likely caused the sudden dip.

In October a new mortgage filing rule – Know Before You Owe – came into effect with the goal of making mortgage applications clearer. The new process gives borrowers three days to ask questions about the loan from the provider.

Yun said the longer timeframe likely caused some deals that would have closed in November to be pushed back to December.

Provided the timeframe does not get much longer, Yun said he expected a normal pace of home sales to resume.

The price of housing in the US also rose. The average price was $220,300 (£148,719) in November, 6.3% higher than the previous year.

The value of US housing is now increasing at twice the rate of the average US salary.

Sales of existing homes for the year are on pace to rise by 5%.

First time buyers continued to make up about a third of the market.

Some analysts see this as concerning, as the price of mortgages gets set to increase following the Federal Reserve’s decision in December to raise interest rates.

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