Existing home sales in November likely finally, fully brushed off the lingering effects of late Hurricanes Harvey and Irma and should return to the relatively subdued levels experienced throughout much of the year, while new home sales are expected to come back to earth after an unexpectedly strong autumn.
Existing home sales in November likely finally, fully brushed off the lingering effects of Hurricanes Harvey and Irma and should return to the relatively subdued levels experienced throughout much of the year, while new home sales are expected to come back to earth after an unexpectedly strong autumn.
Additionally, an early Thanksgiving holiday likely slowed some activity overall during the month, putting a modest weight on both existing and new home sales, according to the Zillow November home sales forecast.
After hitting a 13-month low in August, existing home sales had been trending upward throughout the fall. But much of this rebound was driven by markets recovering from late August/early September hurricane-related disruptions, disturbances that very likely waned in November. We expect existing home sales edged up by just 1.1 percent from October, to 5.54 million units at a seasonally adjusted annual rate (SAAR), down slightly from levels that prevailed during the spring and down 1.1 percent from a year ago.[1]
After a surprisingly strong September and October, we expect new home sales[2] to drop 10.8 percent in November from October, to 611,000 units (SAAR), and return to levels that have prevailed for much of 2017. This would put new home sales up 5.5 percent over the year.
[1] The National Association of Realtors (NAR) will report existing home sales data for November on Wednesday, Dec. 20.
[2] The U.S. Census Bureau will report new home sales data for November on Friday, Dec. 22.
