U.S. existing-home sales drop more than expected in March

The National Association of Realtors (NAR) announced on Tuesday that the U.S. existing home sales fell 8.5 percent m-o-m to a seasonally adjusted rate of 5.27 million in March from a revised 5.76 million in February (originally 5.77 million), impacted by COVID-19. That was the lowest rate since April 2019.

Economists had forecast home resales decreasing to a 5.30 million-unit pace last month.

In y-o-y terms, however, existing-home sales rose 0.8 percent in March.

According to the report, single-family home sales stood at 4.74 million in March, down from 5.16 million in February, and up 1.3 percent from a year ago. The median existing single-family home price was $282,500 in March, up 8.0 percent from March 2019. Meanwhile, existing condominium and co-op sales were recorded at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 530,000 units in March, down 11.7 percent from February and down 3.6 percent from a year ago. The median existing condo price was $263,400 in March, an advance of 7.9 percent from a year ago.

"Unfortunately, we knew home sales would wane in March due to the coronavirus outbreak," said Lawrence Yun, NAR's chief economist. "More temporary interruptions to home sales should be expected in the next couple of months, though home prices will still likely rise."