Home Sales Down From Low Inventory
Good Monday Morning!
Home sales both locally and nationally continued to slump in April. Much of the reason for the downturn is the extremely low inventory of homes for sale. Home inventory issues are effecting buyers in the Eugene and Springfield area and also buyers on the national level. The market remains very strong in our local area for home sellers. Demand for housing remains strong, but would be home buyers are finding it difficut to find houses that fit their needs and price range. If the inventory of homes would improve, we would see a sharp increase in home sales numbers. Eugene and Springfiled area home sellers are still seeing multiple offers and bidding wars on many homes. The climate for selling a home remains very strong. The following is an article from "Realtor.com" that describes our recent nations housing market.
The numbers: Sales of previously-owned homes in the U.S. fell 3.4% in April for the second month in a row, as buyers continue to deal with low levels of home listings and see-sawing mortgage rates.
Sales of existing homes in the U.S. fell to an annual rate of 4.28 million in April, the National Association of Realtors said Thursday.
That’s the number of homes that would be sold over an entire year if sales took place at the same rate in every month as it did in April. The numbers are seasonally adjusted.
The drop in sales wasn’t as bad as what economists on Wall Street had expected. They forecast existing-home sales to total 4.26 million in April.
But compared with April 2022, home sales were down 23.2%.
Key details: The median price for an existing home fell by 1.7% from last April to $388,800 this year. The drop is the largest since January 2012, when home prices fell 2%.
Home prices peaked in May 2021, where they grew 25.2% annually.
The number of homes on the market rose by 7.2% in April to 1.04 million units. But the number of fresh listings is still down from a year ago, the NAR said.
Homes listed for sale remained on the market for 22 days on average, down from 29 days in March.
Sales of existing homes fell in all regions, with the sharpest drop in the West.
All-cash buyers made up 28% of sales. The share of individual investors or second-home buyers was 17%. About 29% of homes were sold to first-time home buyers.
Big picture: Despite home sales dipping in April, most of the housing data is indicating that the U.S. housing market is in broad recovery.
But a combination of issues are making it a slow one, from a lack of new home listings to see-sawing mortgage rates.
Many homeowners are reluctant to sell for two reasons: They may be reluctant to give up an ultra-low mortgage rate secured during the pandemic for a much higher one, and they also don’t want to deal with competition
Homebuilders are responding to the inventory crunch by bumping up construction of new homes. Housing starts, which refer to when a builder starts constructing a home, rose in April. Rates, on the other hand, are volatile: The 30-year mortgage rose to the highest level in two months to 6.57% as of May 12, the Mortgage Bankers Association said on Wednesday. It was 6.48% the previous week.
Given the underlying issues on supply and rates, sentiment among U.S. consumers regarding the housing market has worsened: The number of people who think it’s a bad time to buy a home has hit a 45-year high.
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