by Calculated Risk May 22, 2024 10:00:00 AM
From NAR: Existing home sales fell 1.9% in April
According to the National Association of REALTORS®, existing home sales decreased in April. All four major U.S. regions experienced month-over-month declines. Compared to the same period last year, sales decreased in the Northeast, Midwest, and South, but increased in the West.
Total existing home sales (completed transactions including single-family homes, townhomes, condos, and co-ops) were down 1.9% from March; Seasonally adjusted annual rate for April: 4.14 million yen. Year-on-year, sales decreased by 1.9% (down from 4.22 million units in April 2023).
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The total number of registered housing units at the end of April was 1.21 million units, an increase of 9% from March and 16.3% from a year ago (1.04 million units). At the current sales pace, there will be 3.5 months worth of unsold inventory, an increase from 3.2 months in March 2023 and 3.0 months in April.
Emphasis added
Click on the graph to see a larger image.
This chart shows existing home sales since 1994 on a seasonally adjusted annual rate (SAAR) basis.
Sales in April (SAAR 4.14 million) decreased by 1.9% from the previous month, and was 1.9% lower than the sales rate for April 2023.
According to NAR, inventory in April increased to 1.21 million units from 1.11 million units the previous month.
The final graph shows the year-over-year (YoY) change in reported existing housing inventory and months of supply. Inventories are not seasonally adjusted, so looking at year-over-year changes is very helpful. Note: Months of supply is based on seasonally adjusted sales, not seasonally adjusted inventory.
Compared to April 2023, inventory in April increased by 16.3% year-over-year (blue).
The number of months of supply (red) in April increased from 3.2 months in the previous month to 3.5 months.
This was below consensus expectations. I’ll eat more later.
