Source: CNBC —
Closed sales of previously owned homes in December fell 4.6% to a seasonally adjusted, annualized rate of 6.18 million units, according to the National Association of Realtors. Sales were down 7.1% year-over-year.
Still, December rounded out a year of strong sales, much of that fueled by the pandemic and by the largest generation, millennials, aging into their homebuying years. Full-year 2021 sales came in at 6.12 million, an increase of 8.5% from 2020. It was the strongest sales year since 2006.
Sales could likely have been higher were it not for incredibly low supply. There were just 910,000 homes for sale at the end of December, a drop of 14.2% from December 2020. At the current sales pace, that represents a 1.8-month supply. A balanced market between buyers and sellers is usually a 4-6 month supply. Both the total supply and month’s supply are at all-time lows on the NAR’s inventory count, since it began tracking in 1982.
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