Existing Home Sales Rise 0.6% to 4.97M Unit Pace in April

WASHINGTON — Existing home sales rose 0.6% to a seasonally adjusted 4.97 million-unit rate in April, following a revised 4.94 million rate in March, the National Association of Realtors announced Wednesday.

The March sales rate was originally reported as a 4.92 million pace.

The sales rate was short of the estimate of economists polled by Thomson Reuters, who predicted a 4.99 million rate for April.

The rate is a 9.7% increase from April 2012. The sales rate has now been above the previous year levels for 22 consecutive months, NAR Chief Economist Lawrence Yun said.

The regional sales data trended mostly upward. Sales ticked up 1.6% in the Northeast and rose 2% in the South. Sales increased 1.7% in the West, but dropped 2% in the South.

Yun said that the West regional figures were good to see, because the sales rate is strong despite a tight inventory shortage.

"The West region is encouraging," Yun said. "Even though the inventories are low, the velocity is very fast."

The median sales price stood at $192,800 in April a 4.8% gain from the previous month and an 11% jump from a year ago.

Housing inventory levels rose 11.9% from the previous month to 2.16 million existing homes, representing a 5.2-month supply at the current pace. Inventory was down 13.6% from the April 2012 level, when it was a 6.6-month supply.

Yun said that although the sales of existing homes are not increasing in a meaningful way, home prices are. He added that price growth far outstripping income growth is not a healthy situation for the market, but that an increase in home building could provide relief.

"I would still characterize the housing market as overwhelmingly positive," Yun said. "We do need to moderate the price growth."

Yun said realtors have reported a possible widespread occurrence of "accidental landlords," families renting their homes out so they can purchase new ones without short-selling. A rise in prices could lead them to unload some of those homes, boosting inventory, he said.

"That will be an interesting wildcard," Yun said.

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