High property prices, stubbornly high mortgage interest rates and a now reduced supply are putting pressure on potential property buyers.
According to the National Association of Realtors, condo sales rose just 0.5% in November compared to October and were 1% lower than November 2024. Annual sales were 4.13 million units.
This figure is based on deals and therefore reflects contracts that were likely signed in September and October, when mortgage rates initially fell slightly but then remained in a narrow range.
Supply, which had increased for most of this year, fell in November. According to the association, there were 1.43 million homes for sale at the end of the month, down 5.9% from October but up 7.5% from a year ago. At the current sales rate, that equates to 4.2 months of supply. A six-month supply is considered settled between buyer and seller.
“Inventory growth is beginning to stall,” Lawrence Yun, chief economist at Realtors, said in a news release. “With distressed home sales at all-time lows and real estate assets at an all-time high, homeowners are in no rush to list their properties for sale during the winter months.”
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Sellers who were on the market also began delisting their properties at a faster pace than usual. At the start of winter, sellers often take unsold homes off the market, but that dynamic has been much stronger this year.
And that keeps the pressure on property prices. The median price of a home sold in November was $409,200, a 1.2% increase from November 2024 and the highest November value on record. Real estate agents use a median value, which can reflect which end of the market is selling the most. The high-end is currently performing significantly better than the low-end. Sales of homes priced between $100,000 and $250,000 fell nearly 8% from a year ago, while homes priced above $1 million increased 1.4%.
“Wage growth is outpacing housing price growth, improving housing affordability. Still, future affordability could be affected if housing supply cannot keep up with demand,” Yun said.
Homes are staying on the market longer, 36 days compared to 32 days last November. First-time home buyers accounted for 30% of sales, unchanged from last year, but historically they account for about 40%. Investors returned to the market, accounting for 18% of transactions, up from 13% in November 2024.