Existing home sales
Existing home sales
  • Prior month 4.38M annualized rate
  • Existing home sales 4.19 million for March versus 4.20 million estimate
  • Existing home sales percentage change -4.3%
  • YoY existing home sales fell -3.7%
  • Existing home sale price rose 4.8% from March 2023 to $393,500 (up from $375,300 last year). That is the ninth consecutive month of year-over-year price gains in the highest price ever for the month of March
  • inventory of unsold homes grew 4.7% from one month ago to 1.11 million for the equivalent of 3.2 month supply at the current monthly sales pace. That is up from 2.9 months last month, and 2.7 months in March 2023.

Other details

  • Days on the market 33 versus 38 days
  • Investor purchases 15% versus 21%
  • First-time buyer 32% versus 26% last month and 28% in March 2023
  • SALES accounted for 28% of transactions in March. That is down from 33% in February and up from 27% last year.
  • The 30 year fixed-rate mortgage averaged 6.88% as of April 11 up from 6.82% the previous week and 6.27% one year ago

Regionally,

  • Northeast:

    • Sales increased by 4.2% from February to an annual rate of 500,000 in March.
    • Year-over-year, sales were down 3.8%.
    • Median price was $434,600, up 9.9% from last year.

  • Midwest:

    • Sales decreased by 1.9% from the previous month to an annual rate of 1.01 million in March.
    • Year-over-year, sales were down 1.0%.
    • Median price was $292,400, up 7.5% from last year.

  • South:

    • Sales dropped by 5.9% from February to an annual rate of 1.9 million in March.
    • Year-over-year, sales were down 5.0%.
    • Median price was $359,100, up 3.4% from last year.

  • West:

    • Sales declined by 8.2% from the previous month to an annual rate of 780,000 in March.
    • Year-over-year, sales were down 3.7%.
    • Median price was $603,000, up 6.7% from last year.

"Though rebounding from cyclical lows, home sales are stuck because interest rates have not made any major moves," said NAR Chief Economist Lawrence Yun. "There are nearly six million more jobs now compared to pre-COVID highs, which suggests more aspiring home buyers exist in the market."