Market Report - March 2024
U.S. existing-home sales improved for the second month in a row, jumping 9.5% to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 4.38 million units, exceeding economists’ expectations and marking the largest monthly gain in a year, according to the National Association of REALTORS®(NAR). The rebound in home sales comes amid fluctuating mortgage rates and elevated sales prices, indicating there is plenty of buyer demand heading into the spring selling season.
New Listings were up 0.1 percent to 680. Pending Sales decreased 3.0 percent to 518. Inventory grew 44.6 percent to 1,469 units.
Prices moved higher as Median Sales Price was up 3.3 percent to $516,555. Days on Market increased 35.6 percent to 61 days. Months Supply of Inventory was up 54.5 percent to 3.4 months.
The recent surge in home sales was likely due to a dip in mortgage rates in December and an increase in housing supply nationwide. According to NAR, total inventory grew 5.9% month-over-month and 10.3% year-over-year to 1.07 million units, for a 2.9 months’ supply at the current sales pace. Buyer demand remains robust, and the limited supply of inventory helped push the median existing-home sales price up 5.7% year-over-year to $384,500, the eighth consecutive month of annual price increases.