2022.05.1915:31:00UTC+00U.S. Existing Home Sales Slump More Than Expected In April

Existing home sales showed a significant decrease in the month of April, according to a report released by the National Association of Realtors on Thursday.

NAR said existing home sales tumbled 2.4 percent to an annual rate of 5.61 million in April after plunging by 3.0 percent to a revised rate of 5.75 million in March. Economists had expected existing home sales to decrease by 0.7 percent.

With the bigger than expected slump, existing home sales dropped to their lowest annual rate since June of 2020.

"Higher home prices and sharply higher mortgage rates have reduced buyer activity," said Lawrence Yun, NAR's chief economist.

He added, "It looks like more declines are imminent in the upcoming months, and we'll likely return to the pre-pandemic home sales activity after the remarkable surge over the past two years."

The report also showed housing inventory totaled 1.030 million units at the end of April, representing 2.2 months of supply at the current sales pace.

NAR said the median existing-home price for all housing types in April was $391,200, up 14.8 percent from $340,700 in April of 2021