Prior was 4.09m (revised to 4.13m) Sales -1.7% vs -2.4% prior (revised to -1.4%) Home prices +2.0% y/y Median price $434,100 Inventory at 4.6 months vs 4.6 months prior The housing market is in a steady state that isn’t helped by high mortgage rates due to rising Treasury yields.
For background, existing-home sales are the largest component of the U.S. housing market and are closely watched for signals on household confidence, affordability, mortgage demand and housing-related spending
The data cover closings of single-family homes, townhomes, condominiums and co-ops, making the series broader and generally less revision-prone than new-home sales, which are based on contract signings. Through May, the market was showing a modest recovery from the rate-driven weakness that has depressed turnover since 2022. Sales rose 3.2% from April and were also up 3.2% from a year earlier, reaching a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 4.17 million — the strongest pace since December.
Single-family homes drove the improvement, with sales up 3.5% month over month to a 3.80 million annualized pace, while condo and co-op sales were unchanged at 370,000. Affordability improved somewhat, with NAR’s affordability index rising to 105.6 from 97.5 a year earlier as income growth outpaced home-price gains in many regions. Even so, affordability remains the central constraint on the market.