Google News Chicago's NAR says existing home sales hit 7-month low; 30-yr fixed mortgage at 2.97%
by SOURAV D | VIEW 2458
On Thursday, Chicago-based National Association of Realtors, a trade body that houses traders involved in US real estate market, had issued a statement saying that US existing home sales tumbled to a seven-month low in March, mostly hoisted down by a double whammy of a chronic shortage of available houses alongside a sky-scrapping rise in property prices in context of a clattering supply-crunch. Besides, according to National Association of Realtors’ data released earlier on the day, US existing homes sale fell by 3.7 per cent to a seasonally adjusted annualized rate of 6.01 million units in March, marking off the lowest level since August 2020, while a latest slump in US existing home sales spanned across all over the country, meaning that a roaring US housing market which had been anchoring the economy’s growth during last year’s pandemic outbreak might have lost steams to thrive further.
US existing home sales fell for second straight month in March
In factuality, a latest cohort of a broad-based weakness in US housing market, was largely prompted by a rush towards the suburbs and countryside last year amid a sharp uptick in pandemic cases, which in effect had led to a steep shortage in US home prices and made it almost impossible to bear the burdens of a record high housing price despite a multi-year low long-term mortgage rates.
According to US mortgage buyer Freddie Macs, 30-year fixed home loans fell below a 3 per cent-level this week to 2.97 per cent, while 15-year fixed mortgage rates were hovering at 2.33 per cent on an average and 5-year fixed home loans stood at 2.83 per cent.
Nevertheless, US existing home sales, which usually chalk up the bulk of US home sales, rose 12.3 per cent on a year-on-year basis, staying well above their pre-pandemic level in context of a race towards suburbs from the densely populated US cities amid a rise in work-from-home employees.
