In spite of the up and down performance of home resales in the past six months, and a January total that was 1.3% below December's total, the National Associations of Realtors reported that 2020 started out 9.6% above January 2019. However, the number of houses available for sale are down 10.7% from last year, leading to an inventory that is the lowest since 1999.

 

Homes sold in January remained on the market for an average of 43 days, compared to 41 days in December 2019 and 49 days a year ago. But many homes are selling much more quickly than 43 days as the NAR reported that 42% of them sold in the month were on the market for less than a month. This competitive marketplace has pushed the median price of a single-family home to $268,600, up 6.9% over the past year. Since April 2019, when price appreciation was just under 4% year-to-year, that percentage has continued to grow every month.

The Wells Fargo Economics Group pointed out that "existing home sales reflect closings and tend to be less impacted by the weather than housing starts. This year may mark a bit of an exception, with unseasonably mild weather in December and January coinciding with a pullback in mortgage rates. The bulk of closings typically take place 45 to 60 days after a contract is signed, which means we might see a rise in sales in February and March."

The evaluation of current conditions led them to also conclude that as far as sales go, "with mortgage rates falling, the trend remains positive," but "sales continue to be constrained by exceptionally lean inventories, prices have firmed, raising affordability hurdles," and "competition for homes priced at or below the median has been particularly intense."