RE/MAX: Inventory Grows While Declines in Sales, New Listings Soften

(Illustration courtesy of RE/MAX)

Seasonal declines in home sales and new listings softened in October while inventory grew for a seventh consecutive month, according to RE/MAX, Denver.

The RE/MAX National Housing Report for October found that home sales dropped 4.6% from September to October, far less than the 13.5% month-over-month drop seen in October 2022. New listings declined 5.0%, also less than half of the 11.1% drop from September to October last year.

While there were 6.9% fewer homes on the market year over year, October’s inventory grew 4.6% month-over-month to continue a streak of monthly increases that began in April.

The median sales price of $410,000 did not change from September and remained 2.8% above October 2022.

“October had some encouraging signs – especially compared to a year ago,” RE/MAX President and CEO Nick Bailey said. “Given the interest rate environment, it was good to see the trend of monthly inventory gains continuing, and prices appear to be stabilizing for the moment.”

Bailey called the current market a challenging one, but said demand for homes remains high, “and buyers are gaining a little more leverage as time goes on,” he said.

Other notable metrics from the October report include:

Homes sold in October were on the market an average of 36 days, one day longer than in September 2023 or in October of last year.

Homes sold for an average of 99% of the listing price in October, the same as in both September 2023 and in October 2022.

The months’ supply of inventory in October equaled 2.3, larger than September’s 2.1 and the same as in October 2022.