The headlines for existing home sales growth pace declined improved saying “finding available properties to buy continues to be a strenuous task for many buyers, there was enough of a monthly increase in listings in March for sales to muster a strong gain”. Our analysis of the unadjusted data agrees.

Analyst Opinion of Existing Home Sales

This was a good month for home sales which makes up for the poor month last month. Note that the sales rate of homes over the last year is averaging about 5% growth year over year.

Econintersect Analysis

NAR reported:

The graph below presents unadjusted home sales volumes.

Here are the headline words from the NAR analysts:Added Yun, “Bolstered by”Last month's swift price gains and the remarkably short time a home was on the market are directly the result of the homebuilding industry's struggle to meet the dire need for more new homes,” said Yun. “A growing pool of all types of buyers is competing for the lackluster amount of existing homes on the market. Until we see significant and sustained multi-month increases in housing starts, prices will continue to far outpace incomes and put pressure on those trying to buy.” strong consumer confidence and underlying demand, home sales are up convincingly from a year ago nationally and in all four major regions despite the fact that buying a home has gotten more expensive over the past year.”