LOS ANGELES (AP) — Sales of previously occupied U.S. homes slumped nearly 18% in 2022, the slowest year for the housing market in nearly a decade.
The National Association of Realtors said Friday that existing home sales totaled 5.03 million last year, a 17.8% decline from 2021. That marks the weakest year for home sales since 2014 and the biggest annual decline since 2008, following the foreclosure crisis of the late 2000s.
Even so, the median national home price for all of last year jumped 10.2% to $386,300, the NAR said.
Mortgage rates more than doubled in 2022, climbing to a two-decade high of 7.08% in the fall as the Federal Reserve continued to boost its key lending rate in its quest to cool the economy and tame inflation. Home sales slowed from a torrid pace at the start of the year as the surge in borrowing costs limited home hunters’ buying power.