the numbers sales of previouslyowned homes in the us fell 34 in april for the second month in a row as buyers continue to deal with low levels of home listings and seesawing mortgage rates sales of existing homes in the us fell to an annual rate of 428 million in april the national association of realtors said thursday that’s the number of homes that would be sold over an entire year if sales took place at the same rate in every month as it did in april the numbers are seasonally adjusted the drop in sales wasn’t as bad as what economists on wall street had expected they forecast existinghome sales to total 426 million in april but compared with april 2022 home sales were down 232 key details the median price for an existing home fell by 17 from last april to 388800 this year home prices peaked in may 2021 where they grew 252 annually the number of homes on the market rose by 72 in april to 104 million units but the number of fresh listings is still down from a year ago the nar said homes listed for sale remained on the market for 22 days on average down from 29 days in march sales of existing homes fell in all regions with the sharpest drop in the west allcash buyers made up 28 of sales the share of individual investors or secondhome buyers was 17 about 29 of homes were sold to firsttime home buyers big picture despite home sales dipping in april most of the housing data is indicating that the us housing market is in broad recovery but a combination of issues are making it a slow one from a lack of new home listings to seesawing mortgage rates many homeowners are reluctant to sell for two reasons they may be reluctant to give up an ultralow mortgage rate secured during the pandemic for a much higher one and they also don’t want to deal with competition homebuilders are responding to the inventory crunch by bumping up construction of new homes housing starts which refer to when a builder starts constructing a home rose in april rates on the other hand are volatile the 30year mortgage rose to the highest level in two months to 657 as of may 12 the mortgage bankers association said on wednesday it was 648 the previous week given the underlying issues on supply and rates sentiment among us consumers regarding the housing market has worsened the number of people who think it’s a bad time to buy a home has hit a 45year high what the realtors said “the housing market – at least home sales – is still struggling to recover” lawrence yun chief economist at the national association of realtors said aside from higher rates “there’s just simply not enough inventory” he noted yun also said that the nar was sharing the idea of addressing the capital gains tax with members of congress as a way to encourage more homeowners to sell their homes to ease the inventory shortage market reaction stocks were up in early trading on thursday the yield on the 10year note tmubmusd10y rose above 36