March existing home sales fell 5.9% month over month, with sales down in all four major U.S. regions, according to the National Association of Realtors (NAR).
Total existing home sales, which are completed transactions that include single-family homes, townhomes, condominiums and co-ops, fell to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 4.02 million, down 2.4% from the sales rate of one year ago.
One sign of a slowing housing market is the growth in inventory. The NAR reports that at the end of March 1.33 million units were on the market, up 8.1% from February and a hefty 19.8% higher than in March 2024. Unsold inventory was at a 4-month supply at the current sales pace, up from 3.5 months in February and 3.2 months one year ago.
Single-family home sales fell 6.4% to a seasonally adjusted rate of 3.64 million in March, down 2.2% from one year ago.
The median existing home price for all housing types in March was $403,700, up 2.7% from one year ago when the median price was $392,900. The median existing single-family home price was $408,000, an increase of 2.9% from March 2024.
“Home buying and selling remained sluggish in March due to the affordability challenges associated with high mortgage rates,” said NAR Chief Economist Lawrence Yun in a statement. “Residential housing mobility, currently at historical lows, signals the troublesome possibility of lex economic mobility for society.”
First-time buyers made up 32% of sales in March, up slightly from 31% in February of this year, and the same as March 2024. Cash sales accounted for 26% of transactions in March, down from 32% in February and 28% one year ago.
Individual investors were responsible for 15% of home sales in March, down from 16% in February and unchanged from a year ago.
The worst performing U.S. region was the West, where existing home sales cratered 9.4% in March to an annual rate of 770,000. That figure, however, was still up 1.3% from a year ago. The median existing home price was $621,200.
Home sales in the South fell 5.7% from February’s level to an annual rate of 1.81 million, down 4.2% from a year ago. The median home price was $360,400, up 0.6% from a year ago.
Existing home sales in the Midwest were down 5%, to an annual rate of 950,000. The median price reached $302,100, up 3.5% from a year ago. And sales declined 2% in the Northeast to an annual rate of 490,000, the same as one year ago. The median home price was $468,000, up 7.7% from a year ago.
