NAR: Existing-Home Sales Increased to 4.17 million SAAR in May
Median House Prices Increased 1.3% Year-over-Year
From the NAR: NAR Existing-Home Sales Report Shows 3.2% Increase in May
Month-Over-Month
3.2% increase in existing-home sales
3.3% increase in unsold inventory—1.55 million units equal to 4.5 months’ supply
Year-Over-Year
3.2% increase in existing-home sales—seasonally adjusted annual rate of 4.17 million in May
1.3% increase in median existing-home sales price to $429,300
emphasis added
This graph shows existing home sales, on a Seasonally Adjusted Annual Rate (SAAR) basis since 1994.
Sales in May (4.17 million SAAR) were up 3.2% from the previous month (April was revised up) and were also up 3.2% compared to the May 2025 sales rate. Sales have been very low for 3+ years.
Housing Inventory Increased in May
The second graph shows nationwide inventory for existing homes.
According to the NAR, inventory increased to 1.55 million in May from an upwardly revised 1.50 million the previous month.
Headline inventory is not seasonally adjusted, and inventory usually decreases to the seasonal lows in December and January, and peaks in mid-to-late summer. The third graph shows the year-over-year (YoY) change in reported existing home inventory and months-of-supply. Since inventory is not seasonally adjusted, it really helps to look at the YoY change. Note: Months-of-supply is based on the seasonally adjusted sales and not seasonally adjusted inventory.
Inventory was up 0.6% year-over-year (blue) in May compared to May 2025. Note that year-over-year inventory changes have slowed sharply.
Months of supply (red) was unchanged at 4.5 months in May from 4.5 months the previous month. Looking back to pre-pandemic levels, in April 2019 months-of-supply was at 4.3 months, so there is more supply now, on a months-of-supply basis, than prior to the pandemic! Even though inventory is still down compared to 2019, sales have fallen even more - pushing up months-of-supply.
Sales Year-over-Year and Not Seasonally Adjusted (NSA)
The fourth graph shows existing home sales by month for 2025 and 2026.
Sales were up year-over-year compared to May 2025.
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