by Calculated Risk on 4/19/2012 10:00:00 AM
Thursday, April 19, 2012
Existing Home Sales in March: 4.48 million SAAR, 6.3 months of supply
The NAR reports: Existing-Home Sales Decline in March but Inventory Down, Prices Stabilizing
Total existing-home sales, which are completed transactions that include single-family homes, townhomes, condominiums and co-ops, declined 2.6 percent to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 4.48 million in March from an upwardly revised 4.60 million in February, but are 5.2 percent above the 4.26 million-unit pace in March 2011.
...
Total housing inventory at the end of March declined 1.3 percent to 2.37 million existing homes available for sale, which represents a 6.3-month supply at the current sales pace, the same as in February. Listed inventory is 21.8 percent below a year ago and well below the record of 4.04 million in July 2007.
![Existing Home Sales](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjD1FVhqAeSY7_sry13dDfoiAhKVhUI0BwT4VzgNigmohKFwkr40p-nXNNuA2ae6FdockTvTL65uqmiMLklxYc9E-lS4jVl-89Bwx_Pl_jxVg1g689CkhKpzeCnrE5Vhyphenhyphen9nAGJI/s320/EHSMar2012.jpg)
This graph shows existing home sales, on a Seasonally Adjusted Annual Rate (SAAR) basis since 1993.
Sales in March 2012 (4.48 million SAAR) were 2.6% lower than last month, and were 5.2% above the March 2011 rate.
The second graph shows nationwide inventory for existing homes.
![Existing Home Inventory](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEisH7MnmGbCsANmhkAvMLzeoTVg-I1G21ypzTb_X-u8X8V7G2ddc6YMt6poemfNPi7FGdDLHi4flehRjZJ8DbC28FRtI7qg_-iw-CjAUjJXeh3QGaKr50OVYAVyPor54jWq3gIH/s320/EHSInvMar2012.jpg)
The last graph shows the year-over-year (YoY) change in reported existing home inventory and months-of-supply. Since inventory is not seasonally adjusted, it really helps to look at the YoY change. Note: Months-of-supply is based on the seasonally adjusted sales and not seasonally adjusted inventory.
![Year-over-year Inventory](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjbnsfdhosiUcwQLw8OYCNkvMmpsgNwTPOxoBB4mn4BpAlIjOGoKNbBmRzU9LNHcSV0pGFvFwDM29gJjorgPXWiwiBgxbQlb8F4pF2FN7WclGeTx_HhOUGlwumP5zHNhSZUJWq7/s320/EHSYoYInvMar2012.jpg)
Months of supply was unchangted at 6.3 months in March.
This was below to expectations of sales of 4.62 million.