Lawler: Early Read on Existing Home Sales in December

From housing economist Tom Lawler:

Based on publicly-available local realtor/MLS reports released across the country through today, I project that existing home sales as estimated by the National Association of Realtors ran at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 6.33 million in December, down 2.0% from November’s preliminary pace and down 4.8% from last December’s seasonally adjusted pace.

Local realtor reports, as well as reports from national inventory trackers, suggest that the YOY % decline in the inventory of existing homes for sale last month similar to the drop in November.

Finally, local realtor/MLS reports suggest the median existing single-family home sales price last month was up by about 14.5% from last December.

CR Note: The National Association of Realtors (NAR) is scheduled to release November existing home sales on Thursday, January 20, 2022, at 10:00 AM ET. The consensus is for 6.45 million SAAR.   Take the under.