Existing Home Inventories Inching Higher

The inventory of existing homes for sale increased from March to April, but the increased availability didn’t bolster sales. The National Association of Realtors® (NAR) said pre-owned single-family homes, townhomes, condominiums, and cooperative apartments sold at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 4.14 million. This was a decline of 1.9 percent from sales in both March of this year and April 2024. At the end of April, there were 121 million units of housing available for sale, an increase of 9 percent from March and 16.3 percent year-over-year. This equates to a 3.5-month supply at the current rate of sales compared to 3.2 percent and 3.0 percent at the two earlier points in time. NAR says a six-month supply is typically necessary for a balanced real estate market. There was a big increase in higher-priced homes. The inventory of available homes listed at $1 million or more was 34 percent larger than a year earlier and sales in that tier increased 40 percent. Properties typically remained on the market for 26 days in April, down from 33 days in March but up from 22 days in April 2023. NAR’s chief economist Lawrence Yan said overall home sales changed little, but the upper end of the market is benefiting from the increase supply of homes. Single-family home sales fell 2.1 percent to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 3.74 million, down from 3.82 million in March. Sales were 1.3 percent lower year-over-year.  Condo and co-op sales remained at their March level of 400,000 units, 30,000 fewer than the previous April.