Having ticked up 3.3 percent in January, the pace of existing-home sales in the U.S. dropped 3.7 percent in February to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 5.48 million transactions. But the pace of sales remains 5.4 percent above the pace at the same time last year.
At the same time, the median price for the homes that traded hands in February ($228,400) slipped by less than a percent ($500) from January but remains 7.7 percent higher versus the same time last year ($212,100). And the inventory of homes on the market rose 4.2 percent to 1.75 million but remains 6.4 percent lower on a year-over-year basis (as opposed to 13 percent higher in San Francisco).
Out West, the pace of existing-home sales dropped 3.1 percent to an annual rate of 1.25 million sales but remains 9.6 percent higher versus the same time last year.
NAR says affordability was the main issue. Maybe that’s because we have increasing CPI over declining wage growth. In the words of the “maestro” Alan Greenspan (Feb 2017) “if you impose inflation over stagnation, you get stagflation”. Although the pent up demand should theoretically prop up RE prices, the problem here is that the same dynamic is working at all levels of our economy which relies on consumer spending.