Sales of previously occupied U.S. homes slowed in March, according to the Associated Press. It’s a lackluster start to the spring homebuying season as elevated mortgage rates and rising prices discourage home shoppers.
Existing home sales fell 5.9% last month from February to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 4.02 million units, the National Association of Realtors said Thursday. The March sales decline is the largest monthly drop since November 2022, when sales fell 6.7% from the previous month, and marks the slowest sales pace for the month of March going back to 2009.
Sales also fell 2.4% compared with March last year. The latest home sales fell short of the 4.12 million pace economists were expecting, according to FactSet.
The average cost of a U.S. mortgage also climbed to its highest level in two months last week.
Home prices increased on an annual basis for the 21st consecutive month, although at a slower rate. The national median sales price rose 2.7% in March from a year earlier to $403,700, an all-time high for March, but the smallest annual increase since August.
While sales of existing homes fell last month, sales of newly built homes surged in March. They jumped 7.4% from February and 6% from March last year, the Commerce Department reported Wednesday.
