Existing Home Sales Rose in April for Second Straight Month

Washington, DC, May 20, 2016—Total existing-home sales rose 1.7% to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 5.45 million in April from an upwardly revised 5.36 million in March, according to the National Association of Realtors.

Despite ongoing inventory shortages and faster price growth, existing-home sales sustained their recent momentum and moved higher for the second consecutive month, according to the National Association of Realtors. A surge in sales in the Midwest and a decent increase in the Northeast offset smaller declines in the South and West.

After last month's gain, sales are now up 6.0% from April 2015.

Lawrence Yun, NAR chief economist, says April's sales increase signals slowly building momentum for the housing market this spring. "Primarily driven by a convincing jump in the Midwest, where home prices are most affordable, sales activity overall was at a healthy pace last month as very low mortgage rates and modest seasonal inventory gains encouraged more households to search for and close on a home," he said. "Except for in the West — where supply shortages and stark price growth are hampering buyers the most — sales are meaningfully higher than a year ago in much of the country."

The median existing-home price for all housing types in April was $232,500, up 6.3% from April 2015 ($218,700). April's price increase marks the 50th consecutive month of year-over-year gains.

Total housing inventory at the end of April increased 9.2% to 2.14 million existing homes available for sale, but is still 3.6% lower than a year ago (2.22 million). Unsold inventory is at a 4.7-month supply at the current sales pace, up from 4.4 months in March.