by Calculated Risk on 4/17/2019 03:30:00 PM

From housing economist Tom Lawler: Early Read on Existing Home Sales in March

Based on publicly-available local realtor/MLS reports released across the country through today, I project that existing home sales as estimated by the National Association of Realtors ran at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 5.40 million in March, down 2.0% from February’s preliminary pace and down 2.0% from last March’s seasonally adjusted pace. Unadjusted sales should show a larger YOY decline, reflecting this March’s lower business day count relative to last March.

On the inventory front, local realtor/MLS data, as well as data from other inventory trackers, suggest that the inventory of existing homes for sale at the end of March should be about 4.3% higher than last March.

Finally, local realtor/MLS data suggest that the median US existing single-family home sales price last month was up by about 3.5% from a year earlier.

CR Note: Existing home sales for March are scheduled to be released on Monday, April 22nd.