WASHINGTON—Sales of previously owned homes fell in
April after surging the previous month, highlighting the fits and
starts that have been a hallmark of the housing recovery.
Existing-home sales declined 3.3% last month from March to a
seasonally adjusted annual rate of 5.04 million, the National
Association of Realtors said Thursday. Sales for March were revised
up to 5.21 million from an initially reported 5.19 million.
Economists surveyed by The Wall Street Journal had expected
April sales would increase to a pace of 5.24 million.
Sales in April were up 6.1% from the same month a year
earlier.
News Corp, owner of The Wall Street Journal, also owns Move
Inc., which operates a website and mobile products for the National
Association of Realtors.
"The latest decline is not a concern regarding somehow the
buyers losing enthusiasm," NAR chief economist Lawrence Yun said.
While interest in buying a new home remains strong, "we just don't
have enough supply."
The median sale price for a previously owned home was up 8.9%
from a year earlier to $219,400 in April, the biggest increase
since January 2004, NAR said. That price is just shy of the peak
reached in 2006, when the median sale price for the year was
$221,900.
Existing home sales fell slightly in 2014, despite a modest
uptick in the second half of the year as the labor market
strengthened and mortgage rates remained at historic lows.
Sales of existing homes, which account for roughly 90% of all
purchases in the U.S., have been constrained by rising prices,
limited inventories and tight credit.
At the current sales pace, it would take 5.3 months to exhaust
the supply of homes on the market, NAR said Wednesday. Total
housing inventory at the end of April increased 10%, to 2.21
million existing homes available for sale.
Home construction, which is a key to boosting housing supplies,
is showing signs of a pickup. U.S. housing starts rose by 20.2%
from a month earlier to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 1.135
million in April, the Commerce Department said Tuesday. That was
the highest reading since November 2008.
But Mr. Yun said the increase was "insufficient."
"Rents are also rising above income, people are getting squeezed
on housing and it looks like this will continue because of the
cumulative impact of undersupply in new home construction for the
past eight years," he said.
Write to Kate Davidson at kate.davidson@wsj.com and Jeffrey
Sparshott at jeffrey.sparshott@wsj.com
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