2nd Look at Local Housing Markets in April
With the NAR now reporting existing home sales much earlier in the month than in previous years, I am trying to gather as much local data as possible prior to the NAR release. Here are several more local markets.
April existing home sales are scheduled to be released this coming Monday, May 11th. The consensus is for sales of 4.05 million SAAR in April, up from 3.98 million in March.
April sales were mostly for contracts signed in February and March, and mortgage rates averaged 6.05% in February and 6.18% in March (Slightly higher than for closed sales in March). Some of these contracts were signed prior to the war and the recent increase in mortgage rates.
Closed Sales in April
In April, sales in these early reporting markets were up 0.5% YoY. Last month, in March, these same markets were up 3.9% year-over-year Not Seasonally Adjusted (NSA).
Important: There were the same number of working days in April 2026 (22) as in April 2025 (22). So, the year-over-year change in the headline SA data will be about the same as the change in NSA data (there are other seasonal factors).
Notes for all tables:
New additions to table in BOLD.
Northwest (Seattle)
Totals do not include Atlanta (included in state total)
Comparison to 2019 ONLY includes local markets with available 2019 data!
For the previous month, there was one more working day in March 2026 (22) as in March 2025 (21). So, the YoY change in the headline SA data was negative in the NAR report while the change in NSA data YoY was positive.
Sales in all of these markets are down sharply compared to April 2019.
This graph shows existing home sales by month for 2025 and 2026, on a Seasonally Adjusted Annual Rate (SAAR) basis. Last year, the NAR reported sales in April 2025 were at 4.02 million SAAR.
This early data suggests that April existing sales (as reported seasonally adjusted by the NAR) will likely be mostly unchanged year-over-year. Many of the larger markets haven’t reported yet.
New Listings in April
For these areas, new listings were up 2.5% year-over-year.
Last month, new listings in these markets were up 2.1% year-over-year.
New listings in these markets are still down compared to April 2019, although there are significant regional differences.
Active Inventory in April
Inventory was up 7.0% year-over-year. Last month inventory in these markets was up 9.1% YoY.
Comparing to April 2019, inventory is up in most of these markets (but mixed). The northeast markets - with inventory down sharply compared to 2019 - haven’t reported yet.
This was just several early reporting markets. Many more local markets to come!