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Existing Home Sales Down 3% in March

The National Association of Realtors' reported that existing home sales fell 3% to an annual rate of 4.57 million in March from a downwardly revised 4.71 million units in February. The NAR said the results were disappointing considering the low rates on mortgages and the decline in the price of homes compared to a year ago. It said about half of the homes sold in March were to first-time buyers looking for bargains. In addition, the median sales price in March was $175,200, a drop of 12.4% from a year ago, but higher than February's median price of $168,200. The NAR cited a strong sales recovery in western cities, where prices have plunged the most in recent years. It said the rest of the country could start to see sales improve by early summer. The number of unsold homes on the market at the end of March fell 1.6% from a month earlier to 3.7 million. But due to the slumping sales pace, it would still take almost 10 months to rid the market of all of those properties.

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Date Last Updated: 04/30/2009