Existing home sales increased 1.7 percent in April to 5.45 million units at a seasonally-adjusted annual rate (SAAR) according to the National Association of Realtors (NAR). It was their second consecutive monthly increase and the results beat expectations.
Existing home sales increased 1.7 percent in April to 5.45 million units at a seasonally-adjusted annual rate (SAAR) according to the National Association of Realtors (NAR). It was their second consecutive monthly increase and the results beat expectations. Except for February 2016 and November 2015, home sales have now held steady in the 5.3 million to 5.5 million range for the past year.
March home sales were revised slightly upward from 5.33 million units to 5.36 million units (SAAR) pushing the initially reported 5.1 percent gain last month up to 5.7 percent.
Tight for-sale inventory has dominated headlines in recent months and March data suggested that inventories had eased somewhat in what could have been a promising trend for home buyers. However, the April data did not continue this trend. The inventory of homes for sale declined by 1.9 percent from March to 2.04 million units (SAAR). On an annual basis, inventories have now been contracting for 11 consecutive months and are down 3.6 percent from April 2015. The inventory of single-family home contracted even more – by 2.1 percent from March to 1.81 million units (SAAR).
The median seasonally-adjusted price of existing homes sold in April jumped 2 percent from March to $232,890, its largest month-over-month gain since April 2014. It was only the second time ever (the other time being January 2016) that the median price of existing homes sold has crossed the important $230,600 mark – which was the peak pre-Recession median sale price recorded in October 2005. The median price of existing homes sold is now 1 percent above its pre-Recession peak.
However, there are important differences between single-family homes and condos/coops. The median seasonally adjusted price of single-family homes sold in April was $236,400 – 2.6 percent above its pre-Recession peak of $229,400 recorded in October 2005 – the median price of condos/coops sold in April was $221,400, still 5.4 percent below its October 2005 peak of $234,000.
Regionally, home sales declined in the South (-4.5 percent) and the West (-4.9 percent) – the two regions that have typically accounted for anywhere between 60 percent and 65 percent of home sales – but were up strongly in the Midwest (+12.1 percent). Inventory is weighing on sales particularly in the West where home sales are down 4.9 percent from April 2015 despite being higher than a year ago elsewhere.
