WASHINGTON – Sales of existing homes nationwide unexpectedly fell in April, according to a report today from the National Association of Realtors.
Total existing-home sales – including single family, townhouses, condominiums and co-ops – declined 2.6 percent to a seasonally adjusted rate of 5.99 million units per year, after falling 7.9 percent in March to 6.15 million, the NAR said. Compared with April 2006, sales declined 10.7 percent.
The decline dismayed analysts, according to Bloomberg News, whose survey of 70 economists predicted the sales pace would be stable at the original March estimate of 6.12 million units per year.
The median resale price dipped 0.8 percent compared with April 2006 to $220,900, the NAR said.
The inventory of existing homes on the market increased 10.4 percent to 4.2 million at the end of April, the NAR said. At the current sales pace, that represents an 8.4-month supply – the highest since August 1992, Bloomberg said.
“The housing market correction won’t be resolved quickly,” Kevin Logan, senior market economist at Dresdner Kleinwort in New York, told Bloomberg. “We are in a situation where downward pressure on prices will persist and sales will be sluggish for some time.”
In the Northeast, April’s existing-home sales rate slowed to a seasonally adjusted 1.04 million units per year, 8.8 percent slower than the previous month’s as well as the year-ago pace. The median resale price of $283,600 was 0.6 percent less than in April 2006.
Sales declined in the other three regions as well, and prices fell everywhere but in the Midwest, the NAR said.
But according to a report yesterday by the U.S. Census Bureau, sales of new homes rose in April in the Northeast and nationwide, as buyers took advantage of lower prices and incentives from overstocked builders. New-home sales are considered a leading indicator for the housing market, because they are noted at the time a contract is signed rather than at the closing that usually comes weeks later.
The National Association of Realtors is the nation’s largest trade association, with more than 1.3 million members in all aspects of residential and commercial real estate. Additional information is available at www.realtor.org.
