by Calculated Risk on 6/21/2012 10:00:00 AM
Thursday, June 21, 2012
Existing Home Sales in May: 4.55 million SAAR, 6.6 months of supply
The NAR reports: Existing-Home Sales Constrained by Tight Supply in May, Prices Continue to Gain
Total existing-home sales, which are completed transactions that include single-family homes, townhomes, condominiums and co-ops, declined 1.5 percent to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 4.55 million in May from 4.62 million in April, but are 9.6 percent above the 4.15 million-unit pace in May 2011.
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Total housing inventory at the end of May slipped 0.4 percent to 2.49 million existing homes available for sale, which represents a 6.6-month supply2 at the current sales pace; there was a 6.5-month supply in April. Listed inventory is 20.4 percent below a year ago when there was a 9.1-month supply. Unsold inventory has trended down from a record 4.04 million in July 2007; supplies reached a cyclical peak of 12.1 months in July 2010.
![Existing Home Sales](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg1m_exZMlSSkV7bZQjM1KxftPPbDCD8BGnvoVPehP7zv3IN6IGNUTVpHqVt18tx4jdrS2q-IsClvwGwcgc2hWzTFiwW8otRosePIUHD7u1jlV_wNaW34y4xlG_5DQPd1XNnYHs/s320/EHSMay2012.jpg)
This graph shows existing home sales, on a Seasonally Adjusted Annual Rate (SAAR) basis since 1993.
Sales in May 2012 (4.55 million SAAR) were 1.5% lower than last month, and were 9.6% above the May 2011 rate.
The second graph shows nationwide inventory for existing homes.
![Existing Home Inventory](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhVzZ-FbvU4nfmt-VQHK2xNEk-W6hgA46HGPMycJfwTKIFsc69vQWBszSf0iSxPVG74iaqexqPImqznFaGbsxjhJFuXl_eln8p-nK7UA8ZtoIPG3zMnj5JEPPYLgV9K3eXyY9Nv/s320/EHSInvMay2012.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/AVvXsEgz8ttAs84E_sSP5Pvs7rN7_Aj3zWCDcCcAJuawHK9NdSIj9KTmWLzDg2C4Nf6k2wtJSt69Ank03xhexVc84So98yBvSjuL16Ag-nUIRr5G7Si9VPWIhow05vmciQxSD5mfnezg/s320/EHSInvYoYMay2012.jpg)
Months of supply increased slightly to 6.6 months in May.
This was at expectations of sales of 4.57 million. I'll have more soon ...