U.S. Existing-Home Sales Hit 16-Year Low... Jobless Claims at or Below 200,000 for Ninth Straight Week

October Existing-Home Sales Down 5.5%
Initial Jobless Claims Top Expectations

U.S. existing-home sales fell to their lowest level in 16 years in October, weighed down by rising mortgage rates. Meanwhile, initial jobless claims came in slightly above market expectations but remained at or below 200,000 for nine consecutive weeks.

According to the National Association of Realtors (NAR), U.S. existing-home sales fell 5.5% from the previous month to 3.75 million in October, at a seasonally adjusted annual rate. That was down 8.8% from a year earlier and the lowest level in about 16 years, since August 2010.

A worker stocks shelves at a supermarket in New York. New York, U.S. = Hwang Yunju, correspondent.

By region, sales in the Northeast remained at about the same level as the previous month, while they declined across the Midwest, South, and West. Compared with the same month a year earlier, sales fell in every region.

Rising mortgage rates are a major reason for the decline in home sales. According to Freddie Mac, the average rate on a 30-year fixed-rate mortgage was 7.33% in October, up sharply from 6.86% the previous month and 6.25% a year earlier.

Lawrence Yun, NAR chief economist, said, "Except for one particular month in 2023, mortgage rates have risen to their highest level since 2000, making it very difficult to buy a home." He added, "As a result, home sales fell to their lowest level since August 2010."

Meanwhile, there are no signs of widespread layoffs in the labor market. The U.S. Department of Labor said initial jobless claims totaled 200,000 for the week of November 1-7, up 9,000 from the previous week's revised figure of 191,000. The figure exceeded the 195,000 forecast compiled by Dow Jones but remained low by historical standards.

Initial jobless claims are an indicator of layoffs by businesses. They have remained at or below 200,000 for nine consecutive weeks, showing that layoffs in the U.S. labor market have remained limited.

Continuing claims, filed by people who have been receiving unemployment benefits for at least two weeks, totaled 1.697 million for the week of October 25-31, down 20,000 from the previous week's revised figure. The four-week moving average of initial jobless claims, which smooths out weekly fluctuations, was also unchanged from the previous week at 195,250.

With weakness in the housing market and stability in the labor market emerging at the same time, attention is turning to the U.S. Federal Reserve's (Fed) monetary policy. The housing market is reacting sensitively to high borrowing costs, but since the increase in layoffs has been limited, employment data alone make it difficult to conclude that the economy is cooling sharply.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.