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Existing U.S. home sales stayed essentially flat in April as a typically busy spring homebuying season failed to produce a meaningful year-over-year pickup, according to the National Association of Realtors. The NAR said sales edged up 0.2% from March to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 4.02 million units, but were unchanged compared with April of the prior year. The latest pace also fell short of the 4.12 million annual rate economists were expecting, according to FactSet.
Home prices continued to rise even as sales struggled. The NAR said the U.S. median sales price increased 0.9% in April from a year earlier to $417,700, which it described as an all-time high for any April on data going back to 1999. Prices have now risen on an annual basis for 34 months in a row, the NAR said, while the broader housing market has been in a slump since 2022 when mortgage rates began climbing from pandemic-era lows.
Lawrence Yun, the NAR’s chief economist, said the lackluster sales picture extended through the spring season. “This spring homebuying season, so far all the way through April, we can say we are not predicting any increase compared to one year ago,” Yun said. He pointed to affordability as a continuing constraint, with prices remaining high relative to household budgets even as incomes have been increasing at a faster pace than home prices.
A major factor behind that affordability challenge has been the interaction of mortgage rates and home values, along with a persistent shortage of homes for sale. The cluster said mortgage rates have been hovering near recent levels and have fluctuated since the war with Iran began, as surging energy prices have fueled anxiety about higher inflation. It also said homes purchased last month likely went under contract in February and March, when the average rate on a 30-year mortgage ranged from 5.98% to 6.38%, while the average rate was 6.37% last week; the 30-year fixed mortgage rate value corresponds to a 6.37% level in the FRED vintage for the article date.
Despite the weak sales trend, some potential buyers may have found more options than earlier in the year, even if overall inventory remains below historical norms. The NAR said there were 1.47 million unsold homes at the end of April, up 5.8% from March and 1.4% from April last year, describing it as the most April inventory going back to 2019. Still, the figure fell short of the roughly 2 million homes for sale that was typical before the COVID-19 pandemic, and it translated into a 4.4-month supply at the current sales pace—below what NAR said is typically considered a balanced market, where a 5- to 6-month supply is expected.
The report also pointed to signs that homes are taking longer to sell, which can shift pricing power toward buyers in some areas. NAR said properties typically remained on the market for 32 days before selling in April, down from 41 days in March but up from 29 days in April last year. As listings sit longer, the cluster said asking prices have started falling in many metro areas, especially in the South and Midwest, and it added that Realtor.com reported the national median home listing price was down from a year earlier in April.