Sales of existing homes took off in September, jumping 9.4% from August to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 6.54 million, the National Association of Realtors said in a report on Thursday. Compared to a year ago, sales are up 20.9%.
“Home sales traditionally taper off toward the end of the year, but in September they surged beyond what we normally see during this season,” said Lawrence Yun, NAR’s chief economist. “I would attribute this jump to record-low interest rates and an abundance of buyers in the marketplace, including buyers of vacation homes given the greater flexibility to work from home.”
That surge in potential buyers, however, may be met with what Yun says is historically low inventory. At the end of September, housing inventory totaled 1.47 million units, down 1.3% from August and down 19.2% from one year ago when inventory sat at 1.82 million.