Economic Snapshot: New and existing home sales up in April

Both new and existing home sales were up at the end of April and housing inventory for both measures are currently at a supply of 4.7 months at their current sales rates.

New home sales

Sales of new single-family houses were at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 619,000 in April. This is 16.6 percent above the revised March rate of 531,000 and 23.8 percent above the April 2015 estimate of 500,000.

The median sales price of new houses sold in April 2016 was $321,100 and the average sales price was $379,800. The seasonally adjusted estimate of new houses for sale at the end of April was 243,000, which represents a supply of 4.7 months at the current sales rate.

Existing home sales

Total existing home sales rose 1.7 percent to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 5.45 million in April, from an upwardly revised 5.36 million in March. Sales are now up 6.0 percent from April 2015.

The median existing home price for all housing types was $232,500 in April, up 6.3 percent from the previous year. This marks the 50th consecutive month of year-over-year price gains.

Total housing inventory at the end of April increased 9.2 percent to 2.14 million existing homes available for sale, but it is still 3.6 percent below April 2015. Unsold inventory is at a supply of 4.7 months at the current sales rate, up from 4.4 months in March.

The share of first-time buyers was 32 percent in April, up from 30 percent both in March and the previous year. First-time buyers in all of 2015 represented an average of 30 percent.

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