Home Sales in the U.S. Continue to Drop, Inventory Ticks Up

Having dropped to a 6-month low in March, the seasonally adjusted pace of existing-home sales across the U.S. dropped another 2.7 percent in April to an annual rate of 5.85 million sales, which was 33.9 percent higher than in April of 2020, when pandemic-driven stay home orders were widespread, but down 14.6 percent over the past five months to a nine-month low, according to data from the National Association of Realtors.

At the same time, listed inventory levels across the U.S. actually ticked up 10.5 percent to 1.16 million homes on the market as of the end of April, net of new sales, but were still 20.5 percent lower than at the same time last year (versus 10 percent higher in San Francisco).

And while the median existing-home sale price ticked up another 3.8 percent from March ($329,100) to April ($341,600) and was 19.2 percent higher than at the same time last year, the increase continues to be driven by a dramatic change in the mix of what has sold versus underlying, and widely misrepresented, “appreciation.”