Existing home sales fall for third straight month, slowest pace since June 2020

Existing home sales dropped in April for the third month in a row, slowing to a pace not seen since June 2020.

The National Association of Realtors reported Thursday that sales of previously occupied homes fell by 2.4% last month from March, and declined 5.9% from the year before.

A decline in demand was expected as interest rates climb and sky-high home prices continue to rise. Economists say the trend will likely continue.

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“Higher home prices and sharply higher mortgage rates have reduced buyer activity,” said Lawrence Yun, NAR’s chief economist. “It looks like more declines are imminent in the upcoming months, and we’ll likely return to the pre-pandemic home sales activity after the remarkable surge over the past two years.”

A home for sale in Florida.  (Stephen M. Dowell/Orlando Sentinel/Tribune News Service via Getty Images / Getty Images)

The inventory of unsold homes on the market also jumped in April to 1.03 million units. That’s up 10.8% from the month before and down 10.4% from April 2021.

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“Housing supply has started to improve, albeit at an extremely sluggish pace,” said Yun.

A sale pending sign is displayed outside a residential home for sale in East Derry, N.H.  (AP Photo/Charles Krupa, File / AP Newsroom)

He added, “The market is quite unusual as sales are coming down, but listed homes are still selling swiftly, and home prices are much higher than a year ago.”

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The NAR reported that the median existing home sales price rose in April by 14.8% year over year to $391,200.