Existing home sales in May are expected to fall within a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 5.47 million and 5.83 million, according to a report from Auction.com parent company Ten-X.
Ten-X reported in its Residential Real Estate Nowcast Tuesday that May existing home sales are expected to hit a target of 5.65 million. That figure would represent a 3.7% increase from April and a 6.2% jump from 2015.
The California-based company noted that April's existing home sales figures, as reported by the National Association of Realtors, fell within its estimated range — though below its target. NAR reported an annual rate of 5.45 million units sold in April, while Ten-X had previously projected a range of between 5.34 million and 5.7 million units with a target of 5.52 million.
Ten-X also estimated that May's existing home prices will fall between $226,497 and $250,339, with a targeted price of $238,418. Those figures would be 2.5% higher month-over-month and 4.2% higher than last year. As with home sales, the figure for April reported by the NAR fell within Ten-X's estimated range at $232,500 versus a range of $218,770 to $241,798.
Ten-X Executive Vice President Rick Sharga welcomed the home sales projections, given the constraints that low inventory has had on sales. But he expressed more caution when it came to growth in home prices.
"Home price appreciation continues to outpace wage growth in many markets," Sharga said in a news release. "We're seeing indications that this may be slowing down sales volume in some of the regions where home prices had been accelerating most rapidly."
