And no, that was not a seasonal effect. Existing home sales declined 6.4% MoM in December, the largest decline since November 2015.

And on a YoY basis, existing home sales plunge 10.25%.

US existing homes are very expensive compared to household income and the surge in mortgage rates during 2018 made housing ever less affordable.

The median price for existing home sales shows a seasonal pattern with June typically being the highest for the calendar year and January being the lowest.

Let’s see how Euro Zone and Japan slipping into darkness impacts the US economy and housing market.

Source: Confounded Interest

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Existing Home Sales Crash In December

Regional breakdown:

• December existing-home sales in the Northeast decreased 6.8 percent to an annual rate of 690,000, 6.8 percent below a year ago. The median price in the Northeast was $283,400, up 8.2 percent from December 2017.
• In the Midwest, existing-home sales fell 11.2 percent from last month to an annual rate of 1.19 million in December, down 10.5 percent overall from a year ago. The median price in the Midwest was $191,300, unchanged from last year.
• Existing-home sales in the South dropped 5.4 percent to an annual rate of 2.09 million in December, down 8.7 percent from last year. The median price in the South was $224,300, up 2.5 percent from a year ago.
• Existing-home sales in the West dipped 1.9 percent to an annual rate of 1.02 million in December, 15 percent below a year ago. The median price in the West was $374,400, up 0.2 percent from December 2017.

The latest results brought the 2018 tally to 5.34 million, the weakest pace since 2015. This is the biggest annual drop in existing home sales in 8 years…