May Existing Home Sales Preview
May Existing Home Sales are expected to rise 1.2% to a 4.95mln annual rate following a 1% decline to 4.89mln annualized last month. Single-family existing home sales fell 0.5% in March and multi-family existing home sales decreased 5.2%.
The median existing home sales price in April was down 8% y-o-y to $202,300. Existing home inventories were up 10.5% y-o-y in March, reflecting a 11.2-month supply of unsold existing homes in the market.
Rising mortgage rates and tight credit are likely to have continued to weigh on housing sales and inventories. However, there are signs that the housing market may be bottoming, and the expected increase in Existing Home Sales would reflect that. The California Association of Realtors reported that California homes sales rose 18% y-o-y in May, but median prices were down 35% y-o-y — indicating that price drops are finally spurring a pickup in sales.
Other recent housing data:
* May New Home Sales fell 2.5% to 512k annualized following a downwardly revised 1.9% increase to 525k annualized the prior month.
* The April Pending Home Sales Index gained 6.3% to 88.2 after a record low 83.0 reading in March
* June NAHB Housing Market Index fell to 18 following a reading of 19 in May