Existing-home sales are expected to increase in 2018, but may be hampered by tight inventory and rising home prices. That uncertainty follows a record-setting year.
Existing-home sales in 2017 increased 1.1 percent, to 5. 51 million, surpassing 2016 for the highest home-sales mark since 2006, according to data from the National Association of Realtors (NAR).
Lawrence Yun, chief economist for NAR, credits exceptional job growth for sparking high demand from homebuyers. Even so, tight inventory and high housing prices “muted what should have been a stronger sales pace,” Yun says in a NAR report.
NAR forecasts an increase in unit sales in 2018 to 5. 67 million homes.