May 2022
After two years of record-setting activity, there are signs the housing market might
be cooling. High home prices and a surge in mortgage interest rates are slowing
buyer activity, with home sales declining for the third consecutive month under the
weight of soaring homeownership costs. The National Association of REALTORS®
(NAR) reports existing home sales were down 2.4% from the previous month, while
pending sales fell 3.9% as of last measure, extending the trend of recent months.
Economists predict sales will continue to soften in the near future, which may put
downward pressure on home prices.
New Listings were down 1.9 percent to 1,638. Pending Sales decreased 2.9 percent
to 1,514. Inventory grew 23.9 percent to 1,322 units.
Prices moved higher as Median Sales Price was up 20.0 percent to $270,000. Days
on Market decreased 16.0 percent to 21 days. Months Supply of Inventory was up
25.0 percent to 1.0 months, indicating that supply increased relative to demand.
The slowdown in sales has provided a much-needed lift to housing supply, with
inventory up 10.8% from the previous month according to NAR, although supply
remains down 10.4% compared to this time last year, with only 2.2 months’ supply
of homes at the current sales pace. As the nation continues to explore ways to solve
the ongoing housing shortage, estimated at 5.5 million homes, the Biden
administration recently unveiled the Housing Supply Action Plan, which aims to
expand housing access through a number of administrative and legislative actions
and help relieve the nation’s housing crisis over the next 5 years.
Information courtesy of CMLS*
