Existing-home sales decreased for the fourth straight month in May, according to the latest data from the National Association of Realtors (NAR)
- M-O-M: Total existing-home sales fell 0.9% in May to a seasonally-adjusted annual rate of 5.80 million.
- Y-O-Y: Sales in total jumped 44.6% from a year ago
Despite the drop in sales, there was a lot of great news this month as both inventory and home prices saw a boost…
- Total housing inventory was up 7.0% from April but, unfortunately, was still down 20.6% from one year ago. Properties typically remained on the market for 17 days which is unchanged from April and down from 26 days at the same time a year ago.
- The Median existing-home price for all housing types was up a whopping 23.6% year-over-year to $350,300. This is a record high and marks the 111th straight month of year-over-year gains.
From a regional perspective, the South had the smallest drop in month-over-month sales (-0.4%) and the second biggest annualized home price appreciation (+22.6%) with the median price at $299,400.
- The Midwest was the only region with positive sales growth in May at 1.6% and the West led the way on home appreciation with a price jump of 24.3% to put the median home price at $505,600.
Lawrence Yun, NAR’s chief economist, said in a statement, “Lack of inventory continues to be the overwhelming factor holding back home sales, but falling affordability is simply squeezing some first-time buyers out of the market.”