The annual rate of pre-owned home sales surged last month, reaching the highest level in more than a decade. The Northeast led the gain.
March 2017 saw the closing of 456,000 existing U.S. home sales. Activity spiked from the 315,000 home sales during the previous month.
Pre-owned residential property sales were also higher compared to the same month last year, when existing home sales amounted to 421,000.
Historical data from the National Association of Realtors, which reported the latest numbers on Friday,
indicate that there have been 1.090 million existing home sales so far in 2017.
Applying seasonal adjustments, existing home sales came in at an annual rate of 5.71
million last month — the strongest month since February 2007 when the rate was 5.79 million.
The annual rate was a downwardly revised 5.470 million in February 2017 and an upwardly revised 5.390 million in March 2016.
“The early returns so far this spring buying season look very promising as a rising number of households dipped their toes into the market and were successfully able to close on a home last month,” NAR Chief Economist Lawrence Yun stated in the report. “Although finding available properties to buy continues to be a strenuous task for many buyers, there was enough of a monthly increase in listings in March for sales to muster a strong gain. Sales will go up as long as inventory does.”
A 10 percent month-over-month increase left the seasonally adjusted annual rate at 0.76 million in the Northeast, while a 9 percent gain put the Midwest’s rate at 1.31 million, and a 3 percent bump had the South’s rate at 2.42 million.
The West, however, suffered a decline from February of 2 percent, with the rate there at 1.22 million.
U.S. single-family homes were sold at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 5.08 million last month.
As of March 31, 2017, there were 1.83 million existing homes for sale. That worked out to a 3.8-month supply.
Last month’s median sales price was $236,400, and the average price was $278,500.
The typical time on the market sank to 34 days in March 2017 from 45 days a month earlier.
“Last month’s swift price gains and the remarkably short time a home was on the market are directly the result of the homebuilding industry’s struggle to meet the dire need for more new homes,” Yun added.
First-time buyer share was 32 percent in the most-recent month, while all-cash share was 23 percent, and distressed share was 6 percent.
