Pending home sales in the West, one of the healthiest regions for new home sales in recent years, were off by 8% this spring, according to a new survey published by the National Association of Realtors.
That decline was nearly equal in size to the 8.1% drop recorded in the Northeast during March but substantially less than activity in the Midwest, which saw a 10.7% decline from February to March.
Only in the South were the numbers on the upside, with pending home sales seeing a 0.2% increase.
A lack of housing inventory, said Lawrence Yun, chief economist with the NAR, is the prime constraining factor holding down sales nationally.
“Multiple offers are still offering on about a third of all listings, and 28% of homes are selling above list price,” continued Yun in a statement.
Even so, a “limited housing supply is simply not meeting demand nationally,” said Yun.
Because of the current pace of sales and overall home supply, the NAR is predicting that existing home sales will likely decrease by the end of this year by some 9.3% over where things stood in 2002.
But that downturn may well precede a significant increase of some 15.4% next year, says the NAR.
The industry group is additionally predicting that the median existing home sale price will drop to $379,600 this year, before a nice market comeback of 2.8% for an average price of $390,000 next year.
The median price for new homes meanwhile is expected to ultimately shake out to $449,100 for all of 2023. That same market, says the NAR, will likely increase to $468,000 per home in 2024.
By Garry Boulard
