Sales drop 3.6 percent in March, have gone nowhere for over 3 years.
The National Association of Realtors reports Existing-Home Sales Decline 3.6 Percent in March.
According to NAR Chief Economist Dr. Lawrence Yun, “March home sales remained sluggish and below last year’s pace. Lower consumer confidence and softer job growth continue to hold back buyers.”
“Because inventory remains limited, the median home price rose to a new record high for the month of March,” Yun added. “That price growth has helped the typical homeowner accumulate $128,100 in housing wealth over the past six years.”
Accumulated Wealth Myth
No one has accumulated any wealth over this other than landlords who raised rent more than their expenses have gone up, and those who refinanced mortgages at a much lower rate.
Everyone else lost wealth due to rising property taxes, homeowner’s insurance, and HOA fees.
The wealth impact of rising home prices has been negative for many, if not most homeowners, especially those who purchased late in the game and did not refinance lower.
Existing-Home Sales Month-Over-Month
Key March 2026 Statistics
Sales Month-Over-Month: 3.6% decrease in existing-home sales month-over-month to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 3.98 million.
Sales Year-Over-Year: 1.0% decrease in sales year-over-year.
Inventory Units: 1.36 million units: Total housing inventory2, up 3.0% from February and 2.3% from March 2025.
Inventory Supply: 4.1-month supply of unsold inventory, up from 3.8 months last month and up from 4.0 months one year ago.
Median existing-home price: $408,800: Median existing-home price3 for all housing types, up 1.4% from one year ago ($403,100)—the 33rd consecutive month of year-over-year price increases.
Market Time: 41 days: Median time on market for properties, down from 47 days last month and up from 36 days in March 2025.
Existing-Home Sales Year-Over-Year
It took many years for year-over-year sales to turn positive.
Sales went negative again in 2025, and have now stabilized at a low rate near 4 million, seasonally adjusted, annualized.
Existing Home Sales Supply
The NAR does not seasonally adjust much of its data as evidenced by the above chart.
Nonetheless, we can see rising supply over time. But rising supply has not helped sales.
Existing-Home Sales vs Mortgage Rates
There are sometime jumps in sales when rates drop. However, there has not been any lasting traction.
Sales have basically gone nowhere even as rates fell from 7.62 percent to 6.05 percent.
But rates have risen again. The current Mortgage News Daily rate is 6.41 percent.
MND is more accurate than the Freddie Mac data in my chart because it includes points and fees. I use Freddie Mac data because I have a download from the St. Louis Fed.
The MND rate bottomed at 5.99 percent on February 24, spiked to 6.62 percent on March 26, and is now 6.41 percent.
Not even that dip below 6 percent did much for sales.
The only conclusion is home prices are still too high, mortgage rates are too high, or both.
Jobs and inflation from the war in Iran are also huge concerns.
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Powell’s speech was to Harvard students but read between the lines.
Powell’s warning was aimed straight at Trump.
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