Share
NAR released a summary of existing-home sales data showing that housing market activity this April fell 17.8% from March 2020. April’s sales of existing homes dropped 17.2% from April 2019. April’s existing home sales reached a 4.33 million seasonally adjusted annual rate, the lowest since September 2011.
The national median existing-home price for all housing types was $286,800 in April, up 7.4 percent from a year ago. Home prices remain solid, this marks the 98th consecutive month of year-over-year gains.
Regionally, all four regions showed strong price growth from a year ago. The Midwest had the largest gain of 9.3% followed by the Northeast with an incline of 8.7%. The South showed price gains of 6.4% and the West had an increase of 7.9% from April 2019.
April’s inventory figures fell 1.3% from last month standing at 1.47 million homes for sale. Compared with April of 2019, inventory levels dropped 19.7%. This would mark 11 straight months of year over year declines. It will take 4.1 months to move the current level of inventory at the current sales pace. It takes approximately 27 days for a home to go from listing to a contract in the current housing market, up from 24 days a year ago.
From March 2020, all four regions showed double digit declines in sales. The West had the largest dip of 25.0% followed by the South with a decline of 17.9%. The Northeast region fell 16.9% and the Midwest had the smallest drop in sales of 12.0%.
From a year ago, all four regions showed declines in sales. The West had the biggest decline in sales of 27.0% followed by the Northeast with a modest gain of 18.2%. The South had a decline of 16.8% followed by the Midwest with the biggest drop in sales of 8.3%.
The South led all regions in percentage of national sales, accounting for 43.4% of the total, while the Northeast had the smallest share at 12.5%.
In April, single-family sales were down 16.9% and condominiums sales were down 26.4% compared to last month. Single-family home sales were up 15.5% while condominium sales were down 31.6% compared to a year ago. Single-family homes had an increase in price up 7.3% at $288,700 and condominiums rose 7.1% at $267,200 from April 2020.
