Having slipped in April, the seasonally adjusted pace of existing-home sales in the U.S. increased to 5.35 million in May, up 5.1 percent from the month before and the highest annual pace since November 2009. The current pace is 9.2 percent higher versus the same time last year.
And in terms of inventory, the number of unsold homes on the market across the country increased 3.2 percent to 2.29 million homes, which is roughly 1.8 percent higher than at the same time last year (versus 1 percent lower on a year-over-year basis the month before).
Existing-home sales in the West increased 4.3 percent to an annual rate of 1.21 million sales in May, which is 9.0 percent higher than at the same time last year.