A sale sign will be on display near my home in Austin, Texas on April 24, 2025.
Brandon Bell | Getty Images News | Getty Images
Sales of previously owned homes have increased by 0.8% from May to April and 0.8% from April, according to the National Association of Realtors.
Housing analysts had predicted a 1% decline. Sales were 0.7% lower than last May.
Sales were the strongest in the northeast, with a 4.2% increase from month to month. They also rose in the Midwest and South, but fell westward and fell 5.4%. According to NAR, the West is the most expensive region in the country.
The count is based on the closure, so the contract may have been signed in March and April. The average rate for a 30-year fixed mortgage was stable in March, but was shot high at over 7% in April.
“The relatively restrained sales are primarily due to sustained high mortgage rates. Lower interest rates attract more buyers and sellers to the housing market,” said Lawrence Yun, chief economist at NAR. “If mortgage rates drop later this year, we hope that domestic home sales will increase due to strong income growth, healthy inventory and record numbers of employment.”
A big jump in home supply for sale could be behind the small profits of sales from April. At the end of May, 1.54 million units were available, an increase of over 20% since May last year. At the current sales pace, it represents 4.6 months of supply, which is still historically on the side of the light.
And that’s why there’s still pressure on prices. The median price of existing homes sold in May was $422,800, an increase of 1.3% year-on-year. That’s a record high in May.
Demand is still stronger than supply. As a result, 28% of the houses rose from 18% last month, but slightly fell from 30% in May 2024.
Sales are stronger at the high end of the market. Because there’s more supply there, it’s down over $1 million compared to a year ago. The only price range they’ve risen was in the $750,000 to $1 million, with a relatively small increase of 1%, NAR said.
“The top market has not shown a difference compared to other price ranges. Over the past 20 months, the top market has outperformed its performance, but that’s not the case anymore,” Yun said, suggesting that it could be the residual effect of stock market volatility when tariffs were first announced in April.
The house will take some time to sell 27 days ago, 27 days ago. Only 30% of buyers were the first timers, down from 31% last year, still quite low, with 27% of all transactions increasing from the previous year.
