For the fourth straight month, existing-home sales have seen a drop in transactions compared to the previous month, according the National Association of Realtors (NAR). While the decline of 0.9% is much more modest compared to previous months, the 5.9% loss in new-home sales is consistent with April’s drop. New-home sales also continued to slow, however at a consistent rate compared to the previous month. Continue reading after the jump for some additional figures from the reports!
Existing Homes See Slight Decline and Major Price Increases
The 0.9% is one of the smaller drops seen in recent history, and this will hopefully be the last month of shrinking transactions. As early reports of June’s inventory are made public, we’re hopefully beginning to see some light at the end of the tunnel. Throughout May, properties typically sold in 17 days, the same number as April, and 9 days fewer than the average from May 2020 (26 days). As previously noted, May marks the fourth consecutive month of declining existing home sales, having moved a total of 5.8 million units.
Prices, meanwhile, continued to appreciate at breakneck speed. The median price for all existing housing types in May was $350,300, or a 23.6% increase from the previous year ($283,500). These gains mark the 111th straight month of over year-over-year increases of home prices.
Inventory was also touched on in the report, showing a 7% increase from the previous month, however still down 20.6% from May of 2020.
New Home Sales Show Second Month of 5.9% Decrease
The second consecutive moth of a 5.9% decline in new-home sales, according to the latest report from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development and Census Bureau, is not the news agents nor clients were hoping to hear after being told for months that more inventory was on the way.
Looking at the data, the seasonally adjusted rate came to 769,000 total units. The median price for a new-home in May was $374,400, and the average sales price was $430,600.
Bottom Line
The market is continuing to change and we’re quickly approaching the one year mark for in-pandemic high demand we saw get started in the summer of 2020. Connect with your clients who may be on the fence about listing to encourage their acting now, as the market is expected to continue to increase listings over the next few months.
