Sales of existing single-family homes rose 1.6% in October after falling 4% in September with purchases remaining "stuck in a narrow range," according to new figures released by the National Association of Realtors.
NAR reported Monday morning that sales of previously owned single-family homes edged up to 4.38 million units on a seasonally adjusted annual rate compared to 4.31 million units in September.
Since March, single-family existing homes sales -- excluding condos and cooperatives -- have bobbed up and down between a rate of 4.1 million and 4.5 million units.
"We should be seeing stronger sales," said NAR chief economist Lawrence Yun.
He blamed tight credit conditions, low-ball appraisals, and the recent drop in the conforming loan limit to $625,500 for a big jump in contract failures during October.
Last week, Congress raised the maximum loan limit back to $729,750 for Federal Housing Administration-insured mortgages but not for Fannie Mae/Freddie Mac loans.
The lower $625,500 conventional loan limit will "force some of the most creditworthy consumers to pay unnecessarily higher interest rates," Yun said.
All-cash transactions – which mostly involve investors -- accounted for 29% of October sales. NAR said the median sales price of a single-family home was $161,000 in October, which is 5.8% lower than a year ago.
Regionally, sales fell 5.2% in the Northeast, but rose a few percentage points in the other three regions.
On a non-seasonally adjusted basis, single-family sales totaled 355,000 units in October, down 6.3% from September.
