US existing home sales beat forecasts in December

(Sharecast News) - Home sales in the US grew more quickly than anticipated at the end of 2024. According to the National Association of Realtors, in seasonally adjusted terms existing home sales in the States grew at a month-on-month pace of 2.2% in December to reach an annual rate of 4.24m (consensus: 4.19m).

That marked the fastest clip since February 2024.

In comparison to a year before sales rose by 9.3%, for the quickest annual increase since the 23.0% surge seen in June 2021.

Yet at 4.06m, existing home sales across all of 2024 were at their lowest for 30 years.

In parallel, the amount of unsold homes shrank by 13.5% over the month to reach 1.15m or just 3.3 months' worth of inventory at the current pace of sales.

The median price of an existing home meanwhile jumped by 6% year-on-year to a fresh record of $404,400.