The inventory of existing homes is rising rapidly, but sales aren’t following.
That’s according to the National Association of Realtors‘ (NAR) existing-home sales report for April, which shows sales at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 4 million. That’s down 0.5% from March and 2% below year-ago levels.
At the same time, unsold inventory is up 20.8% year over year to 1.45 million homes. It’s a 9% rise compared to March. Months of supply hit 4.4, up 25.7% from one year ago and 10% higher than a month ago.
Unsold inventory and months of supply are higher than at any point in the past year and exceed the levels seen in 2022, 2023 and 2024.
The supply and demand imbalance hasn’t significantly impacted prices, as the median existing-home sale price in April hit $414,000. That’s up 1.8% over the past year and the highest figure since August 2024.
“While sellers have returned to the market this spring, demand appears to be off to a slow start this home shopping season,” Zillow senior economist Orphe Divounguy said in a statement.
“Despite the advantages of lower mortgage rates and higher inventory compared to spring 2024, peak policy uncertainty in April caused a slowdown in the number of homes going under contract. The pullback will likely be short-lived.”
Regionally, the market continues to be dragged down by the South, which in any given month makes up almost half of all existing-home sales. Totals there were flat compared to March at 1.81 million but were also down 3.2% year over year.
The Midwest tallied the only monthly gain at 2.1%, while all four regions were down or flat on an annualized basis.
Realtor.com chief economist Danielle Hale noted that existing-home sales in April likely went into contract in late March or early April, meaning that the fallout from President Donald Trump’s April 2 tariff announcement is not fully reflected in NAR’s report.
Mortgage rates also dipped during the period when these sales went under contract but have since bounced up closer to 7%.
“Even before the big trade announcement on April 2, consumers had reported concerns about the outlook for personal financial situations and job security, which may have undermined their confidence in making a large purchase, such as a home,” Hale said in a statement.
“In addition, fluctuating stock prices in the wake of April 2 may have reduced some homeshoppers’ downpayment and closing funds.”
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