US Existing Home Sales Weakest April Since Great Financial Crisis

US existing home sales dropped 0.5% MoM in April (considerably worse than the +2.0% MoM rise expected), dropping to just 4.00MM sales SAAR, with sales down 3.1% from a year earlier on an unadjusted basis

This is the weakest April sales pace since April 2009…

Sales declined in the West and Northeast, were unchanged in the South and improved in the Midwest.

High-end homes dominated the market’s gains…

“Pent-up housing demand continues to grow, though not realized,” NAR Chief Economist Lawrence Yun said in a statement. 

“Any meaningful decline in mortgage rates will help release this demand.”

Given the lags, there is a possibility that sales improve in the short-term as mortgage rates dropped…

One disappointing aspect of the report was that a welcome increase in home listings failed to spark homebuying – which Yun said on a call with reporters will result in a “slight downgrade” to his yearly sales forecast. 

The inventory of existing homes for sale increased nearly 21% from a year ago to 1.45 million, the most for any April since 2020, NAR data show.

Greater supply is also failing to bring prices down. The median sales price climbed 1.8% from a year ago to $414,000, a record for the month of April and reflecting greater activity at the upper end.

However, Yun noted the size of the increase was the smallest since mid-2023, pointing to slowing price appreciation.

First-time buyers made up 34% of purchases, the highest share since July 2020