April home sales slow with high mortgage rates, prices, putting chill into spring buying season
By ALEX VEIGA Associated Press Business Writer Sales of previously occupied U S homes fell in April as elevated mortgage rates and rising prices discouraged prospective home buyers during what s traditionally the busiest time of the year for the housing sector Existing home sales dropped last month from March to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of million units the National Association of Realtors commented Thursday The sales decline marks the slowest sales pace for the month of April going back to March s sales pace was also the slowest for that month going back to Related Articles Supreme Court tie vote dooms taxpayer funded Catholic charter school in Oklahoma Kermit the Frog to deliver commencement address at the University of Maryland graduation US filings for jobless aid a proxy for layoffs inch down modestly last week as uncertainty lingers Multiple people on private plane that crashed into San Diego neighborhood are dead leadership say Stocks drift as worries about the US regime s soaring debt continue to weigh Sales fell compared with April last year The latest home sales fell slightly short of the million pace economists were expecting according to FactSet Home prices increased on an annual basis for the nd consecutive month although at a slower rate The national median sales price rose in April from a year earlier to an all-time high for the month of April The affordability condition is clearly hurting the territory particularly higher mortgage rates stated Lawrence Yun NAR s chief economist The U S housing sector has been in a sales slump since when mortgage rates began to climb from pandemic-era lows Sales of previously occupied U S homes fell last year to their lowest level in nearly years The average rate on a -year mortgage has remained relatively close to its high so far this year of just above which it set in mid-January The average rate s low point so far was five weeks ago when it briefly dropped to The elevated mortgage rates which can add hundreds of dollars a month in costs for borrowers have kept frozen out a great number of would-be homebuyers even as the inventory of homes on the field has risen sharply from last year There were million unsold homes at the end of last month a increase from March and higher than April last year NAR mentioned That translates to a -month supply at the current sales pace up from a -month pace at the end of April last year Traditionally a - to -month supply is considered a balanced sector between buyers and sellers
