Existing home sales rose 1.7% in April to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 5.45 million, according to the National Association of Realtors (NAR). The April reading follows March’s upwardly revised rate of 5.36 million.
Annual sales of existing homes were mixed across regions, rising 12.1% in the Midwest and 2.8% in the Northeast, but falling 2.7% and 1.7% in the South and West regions respectively.
“Primarily driven by a convincing jump in the Midwest, where home prices are most affordable, sales activity overall was at a healthy pace last month as very low mortgage rates and modest seasonal inventory gains encouraged more households to search for and close on a home,” said NAR Chief Economist Lawrence Yun.
The median existing-home price moved up to $232,500, a 6.3% increase from April 2015.
Distressed sales slipped 1 point to 7% of sales in April. Five percent of April sales were foreclosures while 2% were short sales. On average, foreclosures and short sales sold for discounts of 17% and 10% respectively.
Read the NAR release.
