Dennis Norman
By: Dennis Norman
Today the National Association of REALTORS(R) released its existing home sales report for March showing a slight decline of 3% from February. This modest decrease following last months modest increase of 5.1% may show the market is starting to balance out.
Sales for March were at a seasonally-adjusted annual rate of 4,570,000 homes which is down 7.1% from last year at the same time. The Midwest region really seems to have leveled off with sales at exactly the same annual rate for March as February and February was just up 1% over January. The Northeast saw the biggest drop this month at 8.0% following February’s 15.6% increase over January. The west region saw sales drop 4.2% for the month but is still the only region showing an increase in sales from a year ago with a 18.9% increase. The South saw a modest 1.7% decline.
Median home prices in the U.S. increased by 4.16% in March to $175,200 from $168,200 for February but still down 12.4% from a year ago. Median home prices increased 9.5% in the West from February to $252,400 making March the 3rd month in a row for price increases. Prices in the Midwest increased 8.6% from February to $141,300 the south held steady at $146,900, which is less than a 1% increase from February and the Northeast was the only region with a decline, coming in at $231,700 which is 1.9% below February.
Lawrence Yun, Chief Economist, NAR
Lawrence Yun, the chief economist for the National Association of REALTORS(R) said “the market appears to be stabilizing with modest monthly ups and downs, and that first-time buyers are driving the market. The share of lower priced home sale has trended up, indicating a return of many first-time buyers…”
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