by Calculated Risk on 6/20/2013 10:00:00 AM
Thursday, June 20, 2013
Existing Home Sales in May: 5.18 million SAAR, 5.1 months of supply
The NAR reports: Existing-Home Sales Rise in May with Strong Price Increases
Total existing-home sales, which are completed transactions that include single-family homes, townhomes, condominiums and co-ops, rose 4.2 percent to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 5.18 million in May from 4.97 million in April, and is 12.9 percent above the 4.59 million-unit pace in May 2012.
Total housing inventory at the end of May rose 3.3 percent to 2.22 million existing homes available for sale, which represents a 5.1-month supply at the current sales pace, down from 5.2 months in April. Listed inventory is 10.1 percent below a year ago, when there was a 6.5-month supply.

This graph shows existing home sales, on a Seasonally Adjusted Annual Rate (SAAR) basis since 1993.
Sales in May 2013 (5.18 million SAAR) were 4.2% higher than last month, and were 12.9% above the May 2012 rate. This is the highest sales rate since November 2009 (housing tax credit).
The second graph shows nationwide inventory for existing homes.

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.

Months of supply decreased to 5.1 months in May.
This was just above expectations of sales of 5.0 million. For existing home sales, the key number is inventory - and inventory is still down year-over-year, although the declines are slowing. This was another solid report. I'll have more later ...