Home Sales May Slow a Bit as Winter Approaches

Traditionally, home sales tend to cool off as the calendar reaches the winter months, with some homebuyers and sellers focusing on the holidays instead of the housing market. New data shows that might be the case this year as well.

According to a new report from the National Association of Realtors, pending home sales fell slightly in September, declining 2.3% from August.

Pending home sales, an indicator of future home sales based on signed real estate contracts, rose in August, but declined in both June and July. And now it has fallen again in September.

Broken down by region, pending home sales in the Northeast fell by 3.2% in September, while pending sales dropped by 3.5% in the Midwest. Meanwhile, pending sales fell by 1.8% in the South and by 1.4% in the West.

However, NAR Chief Economist Lawrence Yun notes that the decline seen in September is not an abnormal one.

“Contract transactions slowed a bit in September and are showing signs of a calmer home price trend, as the market is running comfortably ahead of pre-pandemic activity,” Yun said. “It’s worth noting that there will be less inventory until the end of the year compared to the summer months, which happens nearly every year.”

According to Yun, it looks like some potential buyers “momentarily paused” their home search and plan to pick it back up in 2022.

That increase in interest should coincide with an increase in available inventory, Yun said.