- March’s existing home sales shoot up to a ten-year high as spring home buyers are undeterred by low inventory.
- Promising economic conditions such as decreasing unemployment drove the strong existing home sales rate despite low inventory, demonstrating high demand in the face of rising prices and low supply.
The first quarter of 2017 shows strong start to home buying season. Existing home sales leapt 4.4% from March to an annualized seasonally adjusted rate of 5.71 million units, bucking February’s slide to reach a 10-year high. This bump up from the previous month accompanies another year-over-year increase of 5.9%.
Inventory also rose 5.8% over last month but remains flat and at near historic lows, with 16.2 units for sale per 1,000 households. Annual changes in inventory tell a more grim story since this represents a 6.6% decrease over this time last year.
While inventory remains, low the pace of existing home sales is relatively steady. The rate of existing home sales given inventory is 25%, inching back up to its pre-recession peak rate of 31%.
These promising numbers bode well for this rest of home buying season, showing that demand remains high despite the headwinds in the market.