U.S. home sales fell 3.6% last month. With a sluggish March, existing-home sales were down 1% from a year earlier, according to a National Association of Realtors (NAR) report released Monday.
March had the lowest home sales for that month since 2009, an NAR spokesperson told Straight Arrow News.
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The report said that lower consumer confidence and softer job growth are holding buyers back.
Despite slowing sales, the supply of homes remains tight and prices continue to rise.
The median U.S. existing-home price is now $408,800, up 1.4% from one year ago, hitting a new record high for the month of March.
While month-over-month sales fell across the country, sales rose year-over-year in the South and the West but fell in the Northeast and the Midwest.
Looking ahead, the NAR expects existing-home sales to increase 4% this year, with new-home sales expected to remain flat.
“Sales are going nowhere fast,” wrote Oliver Allen, senior U.S. economist at Pantheon Macroeconomics, in a note shared with Straight Arrow.
The report “suggests the soft labor market, slower population growth, depressed confidence, and stretched affordability all are suppressing the boost to the housing market from the earlier drop in mortgage rates,” Allen wrote.
But for home buyers, there is a silver lining: Falling demand could give buyers more negotiating power, even though prices nationally continue to rise.
