Sales rose 3.2% from April to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 4.17 million units, topping economist forecasts
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May brought a notable rebound for the U.S. existing-home market, with the National Association of Realtors reporting Tuesday that transactions hit a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 4.17 million units — a 3.2% increase from April and the best reading since December. On a year-over-year basis, sales were also 3.2% higher. Wall Street had penciled in a far smaller monthly move of under 1%, according to CNBC.
"More Americans are on the move, with home sales rising to the highest level since December. This is great news for the housing market and the economy," NAR Chief Economist Dr. Lawrence Yun said in a statement. "Improving affordability is helping drive this momentum. Even with mortgage rates ticking up compared to earlier in the year, they remain lower than a year ago and are essentially at the long-term historical average."
The median price for an existing home sold in May reached $429,300, up 1.3% from a year earlier and a record high for the month of May. It marked the 35th consecutive month of year-over-year price increases.
Freddie Mac data in the NAR report show the average 30-year fixed-rate mortgage averaged 6.44% in May, edging up from 6.33% in April but still well below the 6.82% recorded a year ago. Given that the figures reflect contract closings rather than signings, the underlying agreements were executed in April — a period when borrowing costs had retreated after spiking sharply earlier in the year.
The number of homes available for sale ticked up to 1.55 million in May, a 3.3% rise from the prior month and marginally higher than the same point last year. Measured against the current pace of transactions, available supply translates to 4.5 months — flat compared with April and slightly tighter than the 4.6-month figure from a year ago.
Regionally, every area except the West posted a month-over-month increase, with the Midwest standing out as a particular bright spot — its annualized transaction count hit 1 million, a threshold not reached since April 2023, according to Bloomberg.
Newcomers to homeownership played a larger role in May, accounting for 35% of all purchases — compared with 33% the month before and only 30% twelve months earlier. Properties moved faster as well, with the typical home finding a buyer in 29 days versus 32 days in April. All-cash deals represented roughly one in four transactions at 25%, a slight dip from the 27% share seen a year ago.
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