April Existing Home Sales Preview
April Existing Home Sales are expected to fall 1.6% to 4.85mln annualized following a 2% decline to 4.93mln annualized last month. Single-family existing home sales fell 2.7% in March and multi-family existing home sales increased 3.6%.
The median existing home sales price in March was down 7.7% y-o-y to $200,700, and the average existing home sales price was down 6.6% y-o-y to $247,700. Existing home inventories were up 6.65% y-o-y in March, reflecting a 9.88-month supply of unsold existing homes in the market.
Recently published data relating to existing home sales has been indicative of continued strife in the US housing market which does not reflect well on the market for existing home sales in April. Inventories of existing homes remains elevated which should lead to continued declines in house prices going forward. The 7.7% decline in median existing home prices over the year has yet to induce a noticeable reduction in inventories.
Other recent housing data:
* March New Home Sales fell 8.5% to 526k annualized following a downwardly revised 5.3% decrease to 575k annualized the prior month.
* The March Pending Home Sales Index fell 1% after a downwardly revised 2.8% decline the prior month.
* The May NAHB Housing Market Index fell to 19 after posting readings of 20 each of the prior 3 months.
Consumer sentiment indicators also remained depressed over the period — indicating no upturn in homebuying over the period.