The National Association of Realtors (NAR) has released their report for existing home sales for April 2020. What it shows is that the Coronavirus pandemic has significantly affected existing homes sales with there being a drop of 17.8% for the month. The drop was the largest month-to-month drop since July 2010 where there was a 22.5% decrease.
All major regions saw a decrease in the month with the West region leading the retraction in both month to month and year over year sales. Existing home sales which are completed transactions that include single-family homes, townhomes, condominiums and co-ops dropped to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 4.33 million homes. This is a 17.2% decrease from the same period last year when the annual rate was at 5.23 million.
Lawrence Yun, chief economist for NAR says “The economic lockdowns – occurring from mid-March through April in most states – have temporarily disrupted home sales. But the listings that are on the market are still attracting buyers and boosting home prices.” Median existing home prices nationwide was up 7.4% year over year to $286,800. Median prices in April 2019 was at $267,000. Yun also believes that increased construction of new homes will be key in keeping prices from increasing once lockdown restrictions are lessened. “Record-low mortgage rates are likely to remain in place for the rest of the year, and will be the key factor driving housing demand as state economies steadily reopen. Still, more listings and increased home construction will be needed to tame price growth.” Yun says.
Regionally here is a breakdown of existing home sales:
Northeast: Existing home sales in the region fell 16.9%, recording to an adjusted annual rate of 540,000. This is an 18.2% decrease from April 2019. Median price for Northeast homes was $312,500. This was an increase of 8.7% year over year.
South: The South region saw a drop of 17.9% to an annual rate of 1.88 million for April. This is a downward adjustment of 16.8% from the same period last year. Median price increased 6.4% for the South to $249,400.
Midwest: There was a decrease of 12.0% in the Midwest leading an annual rate of 1.10 million. This is a decrease of 8.3% from April 2019. The median price for Midwest existing homes came in at $229,200. This is a 9.3% increase from April of last year.
West: Existing home sales in the West region saw the biggest drop of 25.0% leading to an annual rate of 810,000 for April 2020. This was a 27.0% decrease year over year. Median price in the West came in at $419,300 which is a 6.1% from last year at this time.
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