sales of previously owned homes fell in april from the prior month and prices declined from a year earlier by the most in more than 11 years us existing home sales which make up most of the housing market fell 34 in april from the prior month to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 428 million the national association of realtors said thursday april sales fell 232 from a year earlier the national median existinghome price fell 17 in april from a year earlier to 388800 the biggest yearoveryear price decline since january 2012 nar said median prices which arent seasonally adjusted were down 6 from a record high of 413800 in june home prices have fallen the most in the western half of the us while prices continue to rise from a year earlier in many eastern markets existinghome sales have declined for 14 out of the past 15 months and are down roughly onethird since the start of 2022 a steep rise in mortgage rates since the start of 2022 has made home purchasing far less affordable to most buyers weighing on demand at the same time the higher rates have discouraged current homeowners with lockedin low mortgage rates from selling keeping the supply of homes on the market lower than normal mortgage rates have fluctuated in recent months since hitting 20year highs above 7 in october and november the average rate for a 30year fixed mortgage was 635 in the week ended may 11 according to freddie mac the home sales still struggle to recover said lawrence yun nars chief economist right now home sales are just bouncing a little higher or a little lower depending on the movements of the mortgage rates economists surveyed by the wall street journal ahead of the release had estimated that sales of previously owned homes fell 34 in april from the prior month