U.S. Existing Home Sales Stall at 4.02 Million as Median Price Hits Record $417,700
Updated
Updated · Fortune · May 11
U.S. Existing Home Sales Stall at 4.02 Million as Median Price Hits Record $417,700
23 articles · Updated · Fortune · May 11
Existing-home sales rose just 0.2% in April to a 4.02 million annual rate, missing economists’ 4.12 million forecast and matching year-earlier levels in another weak spring selling month.
Mortgage rates near 6% to 6.38% in February and March, then 6.37% last week, kept affordability strained as Iran-war-driven energy and inflation worries weighed on buyer confidence.
Prices still climbed: the median existing-home price rose 0.9% from a year earlier to $417,700, the highest April level on records dating to 1999 and the 34th straight annual gain.
Inventory improved but remained tight, with 1.47 million unsold homes at April's end—up 5.8% from March—equal to a 4.4-month supply, still below the 5- to 6-month balanced-market range.
The market has hovered near a 4 million sales pace since 2023, well below the historic 5.2 million norm, after 2025 sales finished at a 30-year low.
America has a multi-million home shortage. Can new regulatory reforms finally break the cycle of record prices and flat sales?
As the Iran war tightens credit, are even homebuyers with perfect credit scores now being locked out of the market?
With record home equity but daunting mortgage rates, is the great housing 'lock-in effect' finally starting to crack?