This is following a 7.2% dip in February, when existing home sales were adversely affected by low housing inventory (and the resulting impact on prices).
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Sales of existing homes, as opposed to newly constructed residences that have never been lived in, rose 5.1% in March from the previous month and 1.5% from the same time past year.
Economists had expected existing home sales to climb by about 3.7 percent to a rate of 5.27 million from the 5.08 million originally reported for the previous month.
“There are fewer homes on the market”, especially close to Burlington”, Jenkins says. Buyers closed on about 5.33 million of the single-family abodes, townhouses, co-ops, and condominiums last month, according to the seasonally adjusted numbers in the report. The median price rose 5.7% compared to a year ago, to $222,700. Existing homes were most expensive in the West region, with a median price of $322,000, followed by the Northeast ($257,300), South ($197,800), and Midwest ($175,700).
Matching the lowest share since August 2015, properties typically stayed on the market for 47 days in March, a decrease from 59 days in February and below the 52 days in March 2015.
However, he added, sales are softer both at the very low and very high ends of the market because of “supply limitations and affordability pressures”. Inventory is still down 1.5 percent year-over-year. Unsold inventory is at a 4.5-month supply at the current sales pace – up from 4.4 months in February. And March seems to be a busier time for home sales, which tend to peak in the late spring through the summer.
A separate report from the Mortgage Bankers Association showed mortgage applications last week rose to their highest level in nine weeks as interest rates on 30-year fixed-rate mortgages hovered at their lowest level in more than a year. Builders pulled back on their permitting last month, while swings in the stock market and relatively meager listings had left some would-be buyers cautious in February after robust sales in January.
Forty-two percent of homes sold in March were on the market for less than a month – the highest since July 2015 (43%). Individual investors, who account for many cash sales, purchased 14% of homes in March. February sales were revised down slightly to annual pace of 5.07 million.
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NAR also said there were 1.98 million existing homes available for sale at the end of March, reflecting a 5.9 percent increase from 1.87 million at the end of February.
