U.S. Existing Home Sales Unexpectedly Extend Pullback In April

(RTTNews) - Existing home sales in the U.S. unexpectedly saw further downside in the month of April, according to a report released by the National Association of Realtors on Wednesday.

NAR said existing home sales slumped by 1.9 percent to an annual rate of 4.14 million in April after tumbling by 3.7 percent to a revised rate of 4.22 million in March.

Economists had expected existing home sales to rise by 0.5 percent to an annual rate of 4.21 million from the 4.19 million originally reported for the previous month.

With the unexpected decrease, existing home sales continued to give back ground after surging to a one-year high of 4.38 million in February.

Meanwhile, the report said total housing inventory surged to 1.21 million units at the end of April, up 9.0 percent from 1.11 million units in March and up 16.3 percent from 1.04 million units a year ago.

The unsold inventory represents 3.5 months of supply at the current sales pace compared to 3.2 months in March and 3.0 months in April 2023.

NAR also said the median existing home price spiked 5.7 percent to $407,600 in April from $385,800 in the same month last year.

"Home prices reaching a record high for the month of April is very good news for homeowners," said NAR Chief Economist Lawrence Yun. "However, the pace of price increases should taper off since more housing inventory is becoming available."

On Thursday, the Commerce Department is scheduled to release a separate report on new home sales in the month of April.

Economists currently expect new home sales to pull back by 1.9 percent to an annual rate of 680,000 in April after soaring by 8.8 percent to a rate of 693,000 in March.