U.S. existing home sales up in September

Existing home in the U.S. rebounded in September, rising 7% to a seasonally adjusted 6.29 million units from a month earlier, according to the National Association of Realtors (NAR). The results outpaced analyst expectations of a 3.6% increase, according to Bloomberg consensus estimates.

Video transcript

BRIAN SOZZI: First, some breaking news on the housing front. Julie Hyman, existing home sales have just hit the tape.

JULIE HYMAN: Yeah, we saw a rebound in September. Existing home sales up 7%, the seasonally adjusted number, 6.29 million, on an annual pace. And that is better, just about double what economists were estimating. The chief economist at the National Association of Realtors, which reports this data, says this autumn looks to be the second best autumn home sales season in 15 years.

What's interesting here is that there had been some signs that the huge increases that we've been seeing in price over the past year had been starting to nibble away at the housing market. And we've been seeing some choppy numbers as of late. But it looks like, at least for last month, that we were seeing more strength here. Median existing home prices for all housing types in September, $352,800. That is up 13% year over year. Brian Cheung?

BRIAN CHEUNG: Yeah, what's interesting, too, is that apparently first time homebuyers represented 28% of sales last month. And actually, that's the lowest point since July 2015, so those new home buyers not necessarily making up as much of those sales as we saw in previous--