by Calculated Risk June 21, 2024, 10:00 AM
According to the National Association of Realtors, existing home sales fell slightly in May as the median sales price rose to an all-time high. Among the four major U.S. regions, sales in the South were down month-over-month while sales were flat in the Northeast, Midwest and West. Year-over-year sales increased in the Midwest while sales declined in the Northeast, South and West.
Total existing home sales (completed transactions including single-family homes, townhouses, condominiums and co-ops) fell 0.7% from April, May seasonally adjusted annual rate: 4.11 millionCompared to the same month last year, sales were down 2.8% (down from 4.23 million units in May 2023).
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Total housing inventory at the end of May was 1.28 million, up 6.7% from April and 18.5% from a year ago (1.08 million). Unsold inventory is equivalent to 3.7 months of inventory at the current sales pace, up from 3.5 months in April and 3.1 months in May 2023.
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This chart shows existing home sales since 1994 on a seasonally adjusted annual rate (SAAR) basis.
Sales in May (4.11 million units on a SAAR basis) were down 0.7% from the previous month and 2.8% below sales in May 2023.
Inventories rose to 1.28 million units in May from 1.2 million the previous month, according to NAR.
The final chart shows the year-over-year (YoY) change in reported existing home inventory and months of supply. Since inventory is not seasonally adjusted, looking at the year-over-year change can be very useful. Note: months of supply is based on seasonally adjusted sales, not seasonally adjusted inventory.
Compared to May 2023, inventory in May was up 18.5% year-over-year (blue).
Months of supply (red) increased to 3.7 months in May from 3.5 months the previous month.
This was close to the consensus forecast, and we’ll provide more details on that later.
