MAY 18, 2012 12:54pm ET

Home Sales Flat in April as Inventory Tightens, Prices Rise

Print
Reprints
Email

One of the nation’s largest real estate brokerage firms said home sales were essentially flat in April after a 25% spike in March.

Re/Max reported late Thursday that sales in April edged up 0.1% from the previous month.

Overall, sales are up 4.1% from a year ago on a nonseasonally adjusted basis.

The April report shows the inventory of homes for sale fell 3.7% from March and the inventory in Re/Max’s market is nearly 26% lower than in April 2011.

“With current levels of sales and inventory, an expected uptick in foreclosure properties could be absorbed if they come to market over a reasonable time frame,” the company said.

The Denver-based realty giant also reported that home prices rose 3.2% from March to April in the 53 metropolitan areas it tracks for its monthly “National Housing Report.”

The median sales price was $161,000 in April, a 6% gain from a year ago.

The Re/Max report comes out a few days before the National Association of Realtors releases its monthly report on existing home sales.

In March, both reported a 25% spike in home sales on a nonseasonally adjusted basis. Translated into a seasonally adjusted annual rate, NAR reported that existing home sales fell 2.6% from February to a 4.48 million rate in March.

NAR releases its April existing home sales report Tuesday morning.

 

Twitter
Facebook
LinkedIn
Already a subscriber? Log in here
Please note you must now log in with your email address and password.