by Calculated Risk on 5/22/2013 10:00:00 AM
Wednesday, May 22, 2013
Existing Home Sales in April: 4.97 million SAAR, 5.2 months of supply
NOTE: Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke testimony Testimony by Chairman Bernanke on the economic outlook
The NAR reports: April Existing-Home Sales Up but Constrained
Total existing-home sales, which are completed transactions that include single-family homes, townhomes, condominiums and co-ops, increased 0.6 percent to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 4.97 million in April from an upwardly revised 4.94 million in March. Resale activity is 9.7 percent above the 4.53 million-unit level in April 2012.
Total housing inventory at the end of April rose 11.9 percent, a seasonal increase to 2.16 million existing homes available for sale, which represents a 5.2-month supply at the current sales pace, compared with 4.7 months in March. Listed inventory is 13.6 percent below a year ago, when there was a 6.6-month supply, with current availability tighter in the lower price ranges.
![Existing Home Sales](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiiX_cWLLNWQMWXZOcS0Ogzi1bg72jr4AH_vHaWCyF0L3jXm6MB5luRyGXBmxI_hpNKHYJqiQv8GQ5YqvTfB7LXf44kVBGHRWkaFeVR9fOcUQ-auf4COGvO9y2YoI7igp_sX5Sqjw/s320/EHSApr2013.jpg)
This graph shows existing home sales, on a Seasonally Adjusted Annual Rate (SAAR) basis since 1993.
Sales in April 2013 (4.97 million SAAR) were 0.6% higher than last month, and were 9.7% above the April 2012 rate.
The second graph shows nationwide inventory for existing homes.
![Existing Home Inventory](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEicEgdKvOF-cm_F5nxVCt-uCqSZ0Qj8W4S5HgQKNwjWtbkX_UzrDX2P05DDca9FyNM0tEDvOdnzGcOfivlXAL0C8v5MR0ZaDsp-2BdoVRCZ31yw0eZDMIFotw1ua5uCTPRzwN5EMA/s320/EHSInvApr2013.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/AVvXsEj4r6Gf16p7wBDRl5nhelCpX15e2D3betmKN3uYk8qVnxUKS0pYfMA0sLXXGfMDj6dvZMXVXREzKxXA9WPo0z2E3nVPrADXvBkZVF2PTGy181pkDkq7q-oIk-upJvmCIodzboaQmA/s320/EHSYoYInvApr2013.jpg)
Months of supply increased to 5.2 months in April.
This was just below expectations of sales of 5.0 million. For existing home sales, the key number is inventory - and inventory is still down sharply year-over-year, although the declines are slowing. This was a solid report. I'll have more later ...