Existing home sales declined for the third consecutive month in April, falling 2.4% from March to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 5.61 million, the National Association of Realtors reported.
Compared with April 2021, existing home sales dropped 5.9%.
“Higher home prices and sharply higher mortgage rates have reduced buyer activity,” NAR Chief Economist Lawrence Yun said in a statement. “It looks like more declines are imminent in the upcoming months, and we’ll likely return to the pre-pandemic home sales activity after the remarkable surge over the past two years.”
The median existing home price was $391,200, a 14.8% increase compared with April 2021.
Regionally, existing home sales increased 1.5% in the Northeast and 3.1% in the Midwest. Existing home sales declined 4.6% in the South and 5.8% in the West.
Total housing inventory increased 10.8% from March but declined 10.4% compared with April 2021. Unsold inventory was at a 2.2-month supply at the current sales pace.
The full NAR report can be found here.
