Sales of previously occupied U.S. homes were essentially flat in April, another lackluster showing for a housing market that keeps locking ordinary people out while prices grind higher. Existing home sales edged up 0.2% last month from March to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 4.02 million units, the National Association of Realtors said Monday. Sales were unchanged compared with April last year, and the latest figure fell short of the roughly 4.12 million pace economists were expecting, according to FactSet.
Who Gets Shut Out
The numbers show a market still stuck far below what used to pass for normal. Sales have been hovering close to a 4-million annual pace going back to 2023, far short of the historic norm that is closer to 5.2 million. That gap is not just a statistic; it is the shape of a system where housing remains scarce, expensive, and increasingly out of reach for many people trying to buy a home.
The U.S. median sales price increased 0.9% in April from a year earlier to $417,700, an all-time high for any April on data going back to 1999, NAR said. Home prices have risen on an annual basis for 34 months in a row. Lawrence Yun, NAR’s chief economist, said, “This spring homebuying season, so far all the way through April, we can say we are not predicting any increase compared to one year ago.”
The Market’s Built-In Squeeze
While average incomes are now rising at a faster pace than U.S. home prices, affordability remains a major hurdle for aspiring homeowners. Years of soaring home prices, especially in the early part of this decade when rock-bottom mortgage rates fueled a buying frenzy, have left many would-be homebuyers frozen out of the market. The result is a housing system that rewards those already positioned to buy while everyone else is left staring at the locked gate.
A chronic shortage of homes for sale nationally, due partly to years of below-average new home construction, has helped prop up home prices even in a multiyear sales slump. Homes purchased last month likely went under contract in February and March, when the average rate on a 30-year mortgage ranged from 5.98%, its lowest level in three and a half years, to 6.38%, according to mortgage buyer Freddie Mac. The average rate was 6.37% last week.
While the average rate has remained below where it was a year ago, it has been fluctuating since the war with Iran began, as surging energy prices fuel anxiety about higher inflation. That is the kind of distant geopolitical shock ordinary buyers are expected to absorb while the housing market keeps functioning on scarcity and speculation.
Inventory Creeps Up, But Not Enough
Those who can afford to buy are benefiting from more properties on the market, although home inventory levels remain well below historical norms. There were 1.47 million unsold homes at the end of April, up 5.8% from March and up 1.4% from April last year, NAR said. That was the most homes on the market for the month of April going back to 2019, when the month-end inventory stood at 1.83 million homes. It was still short of the roughly 2 million homes for sale that was typical before the COVID-19 pandemic.
April’s month-end inventory translated to a 4.4-month supply at the current sales pace. Traditionally, a 5- to 6-month supply is considered a balanced market between buyers and sellers. Yun said, “We really need to see 30% growth in inventory, but we’re not really seeing that.”
One factor helping boost the supply of homes for sale is that many properties are sitting on the market longer. Properties typically remained on the market for 32 days last month before selling, down from 41 days in March, but up from 29 days in April last year, NAR said. As homes take longer to sell, asking prices have started falling in many metro areas, especially in the South and Midwest. The national median home listing price was down in April from a year earlier, according to Realtor.com.
Reuters said the April increase was driven by multi-family housing, while single-family home sales were flat. That split leaves the basic hierarchy of the market intact: a few segments move, while the broader reality for buyers remains one of scarcity, high prices, and a system that keeps ordinary people waiting.