Housing News

More Properties are Hitting the Market as Existing Home Sales Remain Stable

The big story in the housing market these days appears to be the growing number of homeowners who are listing their homes for sale after years of hardly any ‘For Sale’ signs. 

There were 1.54 million existing single-family homes for sale at the end of May, which is up a whopping 20.3% over May 2024, according to a new report from the National Association of Realtors. (Existing homes are previously lived in residences, excluding new construction.)

That means there are approximately 260,000 more homes on the market than there were at the same time last year. That figure is also up 6.2% from April.

Despite the rise in homes on the market, home sellers are still getting top dollar for their home. The median sales price in May for an existing home was $422,800, which was a record for the month of May. It’s also the 23rd straight month of year-over-year price increases.

Overall, existing home sales were basically flat compared to both the previous month and the previous year. Existing home sales increased by 0.8% in May compared to April. But they were down 0.7% from May 2024.

Broken down by property type, there was a 1.1% increase in sales of single-family homes in May compared to April. Meanwhile, sales of condos and co-ops were down 2.7%.

Sales also varied across the country. Existing home sales rose in the Northeast by 4.2% month-over-month, in the Midwest by 2.1%, and in the South by 1.7%, but fell by 5.4% in the West.

"The relatively subdued sales are largely due to persistently high mortgage rates,” said NAR Chief Economist Lawrence Yun in a statement.

As Yun noted, mortgage rates are elevated from where they were a few years ago. Rates averaged 6.81% for 30-year, fixed-rate loans in the week ending June 18, according to Freddie Mac data.

However, rates have fallen for four straight weeks, providing some slight relief for would-be homebuyers.

“Lower interest rates will attract more buyers and sellers to the housing market," Yun said.

And if rates continue to fall, it will only be better news for both buyers and sellers.

"Increasing participation in the housing market will increase the mobility of the workforce and drive economic growth,” Yun added. “If mortgage rates decrease in the second half of this year, expect home sales across the country to increase.”