April 2024 Existing-Home Sales Take a Step Back

NAR released a summary of existing-home sales data showing that housing market activity this April declined 1.9% from March 2024. April’s existing-home sales reached a 4.14 million seasonally adjusted annual rate. April sales of existing homes declined 1.9% from April 2023.

The national median existing-home price for all housing types reached $407,600 in April, up 5.7% from a year ago.

Regionally, in April, all four regions showed price growth from a year ago. The West had the largest gain, 9.3%, followed by the Northeast, with an incline of 8.5%. The Midwest had an increase of 6.0%, while the South region rose 3.7%.

April’s inventory of unsold listings as of the end of the month was up 9.0% from last month, standing at 1,210,000 homes for sale. Compared with April of 2023, inventory levels were up 16.3%. It will take 3.5 months to move the current level of inventory at the current sales pace, well below the desired pace of 6 months. Demand is currently outpacing inventory.

It takes approximately 26 days for a home to go from listing to a contract in the current housing market. A year ago, it took 22 days.

Sales in April declined in three of the four regions from a year ago. The West had the only incline of 1.3%. The Northeast had the largest decline, 4.0%, followed by the South, which fell 3.1%. The Midwest had the smallest decrease, 1.0%.   

Compared to March 2024, all four regions showed drops in sales. The Northeast region decreased by 4.0%, followed by the West, which declined by 2.6%. The South fell 1.6%, followed by the Midwest region, which had the smallest dip in sales, 1.0%.

The South led all regions in percentage of national sales, accounting for 45.9% of the total, while the Northeast had the smallest share at 11.6%.

In April, single-family sales decreased 2.1%, and condominium sales were flat compared to last month. Single-family home sales were down 1.3%, while condominium sales fell 7.0% compared to a year ago. The median sales price of single-family homes rose 5.6% to $412,100 from April 2023, while the median sales price of condominiums inclined 5.4% to $365,300.