Real estate agents and analysts have long been blaming weak sales on too few listings and rising rates.
Lower mortgage rates should have given home sales a boost in January, but they did not. Sales of existing homes fell 1.2 percent to their lowest level in more than three years compared with December and were a wider 8.5 percent lower annually, according to the National Association of Realtors.
That could be good news for buyers seeking relative bargains in the spring.
Real estate agents and analysts have long been blaming weak sales on too few listings and rising rates — but supply has been rising steadily for several months and rates have been falling. Total housing inventory at the end of January increased to 1.59 million, up from 1.53 million homes for sale in December. Supply is also up from 1.52 million a year ago.
Home prices are still higher compared with a year ago. The median price of an existing home sold in January was $247,500. But that is just 2.8 percent higher compared with January 2018, the smallest annual gain since February 2012.
«Existing home sales in January were weak compared to historical norms; however, they are likely to have reached a cyclical low,» said Lawrence Yun, chief economist at the NAR. «Moderating home prices combined with gains in household income will boost housing affordability, bringing more buyers to the market in the coming months.
