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U.S. existing home sales fall for tenth consecutive month in November, gold price edges up to $1,830

Kitco Media
By Anna Golubova
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Updated
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(Kitco News) Gold ticked up to nearly $1,830 an ounce as U.S. existing home sales fell for the tenth month in a row, dropping 7.7% in November.

Existing home sales declined to a seasonally adjusted and annualized rate of 4.09 million units last month, compared to October’s annualized rate of 4.43 million homes, the National Association of Realtors (NAR) said on Wednesday. Market consensus projections were calling for existing home sales to decline to 4.20 million.

On an annual basis, November’s existing sales were down 35.4%.

Housing activity in November resembled a trend witnessed during the COVID-19 pandemic, said NAR's chief economist Lawrence Yun.

"In essence, the residential real estate market was frozen in November, resembling the sales activity seen during the COVID-19 economic lockdowns in 2020," said Yun. "The principal factor was the rapid increase in mortgage rates, which hurt housing affordability and reduced incentives for homeowners to list their homes. Plus, available housing inventory remains near historic lows."

The median price for all home types was $370,700 last month, rising 3.5% from a year ago. This marked the 129th straight month of year-over-year gains – the longest-running streak on record.

The total inventory was at 1.14 million units, up 2.7% from last year’s total.

Gold prices edged up following the data release. February Comex gold futures were last trading at $1,829.70, up 0.24% on the day. 

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Anna Golubova

Anna Golubova is the Producer for Kitco News. With more than ten years of experience in media, she has covered a range of topics, focusing on economy and politics. Anna began to exclusively cover economic news in 2013, attending media lockups at the Bank of Canada and Statistics Canada to report on a range of key macro economic events, including interest rate announcements, GDP, unemployment, and retail. She holds a Master of Arts in International Relations from NPSIA, Carleton and a Bachelor's degree in Political Science and History from the University of Ottawa.

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