Steel Markets
Existing Home Sales Drop in April
Written by Sandy Williams
May 23, 2018
Sales of existing homes in April followed the decline in sales of newly built homes. After two months of increase, existing home sales fell on both a monthly and annual basis. Completed transactions for existing homes, including single-family, townhomes, condos and co-ops, decreased 2.5 percent in April to an annual rate of 5.46 million, reported the National Association of Realtors. On a year-over-year basis, sales fell 1.4 percent.
“The root cause of the underperforming sales activity in much of the country so far this year continues to be the utter lack of available listings on the market to meet the strong demand for buying a home,” said NAR Chief Economist Lawrence Yun. “Realtors say the healthy economy and job market are keeping buyers in the market for now even as they face rising mortgage rates. However, inventory shortages are even worse than in recent years, and home prices keep climbing above what many home shoppers are able to afford.”
The median price for an existing home was $257,900 in April, an increase of 5.3 percent from April 2017. Prices have trended upward for the past 74 months.
Inventory continues to be tight, although increasing 9.8 percent in April to 1.80 million homes for sale. Inventory is still 6.3 percent lower than a year ago and stands at a four-month supply at the current sales pace.
Sales fell in every region compared to March.
Sandy Williams
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