Existing Home Sales Fall 2.7% in March
WASHINGTON (April 20, 2022) – Existing home sales fell in March, marking two straight months of decline, according to the National Association of Realtors®. Month over month, sales in March fell in three of the four major regions of the United States, while remaining stable in the West. Sales were down in every region year over year.
Total Existing Home Sales,1 https://www.nar.realtor/existing-home-sales, closed deals including single-family homes, townhouses, condominiums and co-ops, fell 2.7% from February to a rate seasonally adjusted annual of 5.77 million in March. Year-on-year, sales fell 4.5% (6.04 million in March 2021).
“The housing market is beginning to feel the impact of sharply rising mortgage rates and rising inflation weighing on purchasing power,” said Lawrence Yun, chief economist at NAR. “Yet homes are selling fast and home price gains remain in the double digits.”
While mortgage rates are expected to rise further, Yun predicts transactions will contract by 10% this year, home prices will readjust and earnings will rise by around 5%.
Total Housing Inventory2 at the end of March totaled 950,000 units, up 11.8% compared to February and down 9.5% compared to a year ago (1.05 million). Unsold inventory is at 2.0 months supply at the current selling rate, down from 1.7 months in February and 2.1 months in March 2021.
The median price of existing homes3 for all housing types in March was $375,300, up 15.0% from March 2021 ($326,300) as prices rose in every region. That’s 121 consecutive months of year-over-year increases, the longest streak on record.
“House prices have steadily increased as supply remains tight,” Yun said. “However, sellers should not expect easy profit gains and should look for multiple offers to fade as demand continues to decline.”
Properties generally remained on the market for 17 days in March, compared to 18 days in February and 18 days in March 2021. Eighty-seven percent of homes sold in March 2022 were on the market for less than a month.
First-time buyers were responsible for 30% of sales in March, compared to 29% in February and 32% in March 2021.4 – indicated that the annual share of first-time buyers was 34%.
“It seems first-time home buyers are still looking to lock in current mortgage rates before they inevitably rise,” Yun said.
Individual investors or second home buyers, who make up many cash sales, bought 18% of homes in March, down from 19% in February but up from 15% in March 2021. Cash sales accounted for 28% of transactions in March. , up from 25% in February and 23% in March 2021.
“As mortgage rates rose, cash sales accounted for a larger share of transactions, reaching the highest share since 2014,” Yun said.
Distressed Sales5 – foreclosures and short sales – represented less than 1% of sales in March, equal to the percentage observed in February 2022 and March 2021.
According to Freddie Mac, the average commitment rate for a conventional 30-year fixed rate mortgage was 4.17% in March, down from 3.76% in February. The average engagement rate over the whole of 2021 was 2.96%.
Realtor.com®’s March Market Trends Report shows the strongest year-over-year median list price growth occurred in Miami (+37.0%), Las Vegas ( +35.2%) and in Tampa (+32.0%). Austin posted the strongest growth in the share of homes discounted from a year ago (+2.9 percentage points), followed by Sacramento and Memphis (+2.3 percentage points).
Single-family and condo/co-op sales
Sales of single-family homes fell at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 5.13 million in March, down 2.7% from 5.27 million in February and down 3.8% from one year ago. The median price of existing single-family homes was $382,000 in March, up 15.2% from March 2021.
Existing condominium and co-op sales were recorded at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 640,000 units in March, down 3.0% from 660,000 in February and down 9.9% from a year ago. one year old. The median price of existing condos was $322,000 in March, an annual increase of 11.9%.
“Finding the right home in this market — from making an offer to final purchase — is an intense process,” said NAR President Leslie Rouda Smith, a Plano, Texas Realtor® and Associate Broker. at Dave Perry-Miller Real Estate in Dallas. “The current state of housing is indeed one of the most competitive markets I have witnessed, but with patience and the help of a trusted real estate agent, the outcome can be very rewarding.”
Regional distribution
Sales of existing homes in the North East fell 2.9% in March, recording an annual rate of 670,000, down 11.8% from March 2021. The median price in the North East was $390,200, up 6.8% from a year ago.
Existing home sales in the Midwest fell 4.5% from the previous month to an annual rate of 1,270,000 in March, down 3.1% from March 2021. The median price in the Midwest was $271,000, a 10.4% jump from March 2021.
Sales of existing homes in the South fell 3.0% in March from the previous month, registering an annual rate of 2,620,000, down 3.0% from a year ago. The median price in the South was $339,000, a 21.2% increase over the previous year. For the seventh consecutive month, the South experienced the highest pace of price appreciation compared to the other three regions.
Existing home sales in the West were flat from the previous month, posting an annual rate of 1,210,000 in March, down 4.7% from a year ago. The median price in the West was $519,900, up 5.4% from March 2021.
The National Association of Realtors® is America’s largest trade association, representing more than 1.5 million members involved in all aspects of the residential and commercial real estate industries.
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For local information, please contact the local Association of Realtors® for local Multiple Listing Services (MLS) data. Local MLS data is the most accurate source of sales and price information in specific areas, although there may be differences in reporting methodology.
NOTE: The NAR Pending Home Sales Index for March is scheduled for release on April 27, and March Existing Home Sales will be released on May 19; exit times are 10:00 a.m. ET.
1 Sales of existing homes, which include single-family homes, townhouses, condominiums and co-ops, are based on multiple listing services transaction closes. Changes in sales trends outside the MLS are not captured in the monthly series. NAR periodically compares home sales using other sources to assess overall home sales trends, including sales not reported by MLS.
Existing home sales, based on closings, differ from the US Census Bureau’s series on new single-family home sales, which are based on contracts or the acceptance of a down payment. Due to these differences, it is not uncommon for each series to move in different directions in the same month. Additionally, existing home sales, which account for over 90% of total home sales, are based on a much larger sample of data – approximately 40% of data from multiple listing services each month – and are generally not not subject to significant prior months. revisions.
The annual rate for a given month represents what the total number of actual sales would be for a year if the relative rate for that month were maintained for 12 consecutive months. Seasonally adjusted annual rates are used in reporting monthly data to account for seasonal variations in resale activity. For example, the volume of home sales is normally higher in the summer than in the winter, mainly due to differences in climate and family buying habits. However, seasonal factors cannot compensate for abnormal weather conditions.
Data collection for single-family families began monthly in 1968, while data collection for condominiums began quarterly in 1981; the series were combined in 1999 when the monthly collection of condominium data began. Prior to this period, single-family homes accounted for more than 9 in 10 purchases. Historical comparisons for total home sales prior to 1999 are based on monthly sales of single-family homes, combined with the corresponding quarterly sales rate for condominiums.
2 Data on total inventory and supply of the month are available up to 1999, while single-family inventory and supply of the month are available up to 1982 (before 1999, sales of single-family homes represented more 90% of transactions and condominiums were only measured on a quarterly basis).
3 The median price is where half sold for more and the other half sold for less; medians are more typical of market conditions than average prices, which are biased upwards by a relatively small share of high-end transactions. The only valid comparisons for median prices are with the same period a year earlier due to the seasonality of shopping habits. Month-to-month comparisons don’t compensate for seasonal changes, especially for the timing of family shopping habits. Changes in the composition of sales can distort median price data. Median and average prices from one year ago are sometimes revised through an automated process if additional data is received.
The national median condominium/co-op price is often higher than the median single family home price because condominiums are concentrated in higher cost housing markets. However, within a given area, single-family homes typically sell for more than condos, as shown in NAR’s quarterly metro area price reports.
4 The survey results represent homeowners and differ from the separately reported monthly results of NAR’s Realtors® Confidence Index, which include all types of buyers. Investors are under-represented in the annual survey because survey questionnaires are mailed to the addresses of properties purchased and are generally not returned by absentee owners. Results include new and existing homes.
5 Distressed sales (foreclosures and short sales), days on market, first time buyers, all-cash transactions and investors are from a monthly survey for NAR’s Realtors® Confidence Index, published on nar.realtor.