A “sale” sign in front of a house in Washington, DC, United States, Thursday, May 8, 2025.
Nathan Howard | Bloomberg | Getty images
The spring housing market continues to fight in the midst of high interest rates and low consumer confidence.
Sales of houses previously owned in April fell 0.5% from March to an annualized rate of 4 million units adjusted seasonally, according to the National Association of Realtors. This is the slowest April pace since 2009.
Sales fell by 2% compared to April from last year. Housing economists expected a gain of 2.7%.
This count is based on closures, which means that contracts that were probably signed in February and March, before mortgage rates increased in April.
“Home sales have been 75% of normal or pre-countryic activity for three years, even with seven million jobs added to the economy,” said Lawrence Yun, NAR chief economist in a statement. “The demand for repressed housing continues to grow, but not made. Any significant drop in mortgage rates will help publish this request.”
The inventory jumped 9% per month and was almost 21% higher than in the last year. There were 1.45 million houses for sale at the end of April, which, at the current sale rate, represents a 4.4 -month supply. It is the highest level in five years, but still below the six -month offer which is considered a balanced market. A year ago, there was a 3.5 month supply.
No more offer is starting to cool prices. The median price of an existing house sold in April was $ 414,000, an increase of only 1.8% in annual shift. This is the highest price in April, but the slowest appreciation since July 2023. Annual price gains were much higher last year. The southern and western regions have seen prices drop.
“At the macro level, we are still on a sweet seller market,” said Yun. “But with the highest inventory levels in almost five years, consumers are in a better situation to negotiate better offers.”
The houses were seated on the market on average 29 days, faster than March, but longer than in April of last year. The first buyers represented 34% of sales, almost the same as last year.
Cancellation rates, or how many people cancel their contracts, also increase, reaching 7% of sales in April. This represents a recent average of 3 to 4%.
The activity is even higher on the highest level of the market. House sales at the price of over a million dollars increased by almost 6% compared to a year ago. Prices between $ 100,000 and $ 250,000 dropped just over 4%. Yun, however, noted that the high -end gains are shrinking.
“I think this is due in part to the stock market that happened,” he said.