While home sales may not be booming in spring like many real estate professionals hoped for, according to the latest data from the National Association of Realtors® (NAR), inventory continues to increase as the potential for a strong summer market grows.
NAR’s April Existing-Home Sales report saw a 0.2% month-over-month increase in sales to a rate of 4.02 million, a reversal from the 3.6% fall seen in March. Sales saw no change year-over-year.
Single-family existing-home sales saw no change month-over-month at a rate of 3.64 million, down 0.3% year-over-year. Condo and co-op sales grew 2.7% month-over-month to a rate of 380,000, up 2.7% year-over-year.
NAR Chief Economist Lawrence Yun said the “modest” growth in sales this month was due to continued improvements in housing affordability, as the report’s housing affordability index saw an improvement from 101.4 last year to 110.6 in April, and saw growth across all four regions—the Northeast was up 4.7%, the Midwest was up 5.9%, the South was up 9.6% and the West was up 12.5%.
Maybe more notably, this is the third month (since February) there has been significant growth recorded in existing-home inventory. Unsold inventory grew 5.8% month-over-month and 1.4% year-over-year to 1.47 million units. This is equal to a 4.4 months’ supply, up from 4.2 months in March and from 4.3 months one year ago.
Additionally, NAR’s recent Q1 Metropolitan Median Area Prices and Affordability data saw fewer markets recording year-over-year price increases, more markets recording declines in home prices and mortgage payments continuing to decrease.
Yun attributed affordability growth to mortgage rates being lower year-over-year, coupled with “average income growth outpacing home price gains.”
Yun also noted a year-over-year increase in second-home purchases (from 15% in 2025 to 16% in April), reflecting “stronger finances among higher-income households, as well as the post-COVID rise in remote work and hybrid job schedules.”
Regionally, the sales results remain more mixed. The Northeast was unchanged month-over-month at a rate of 450,000, down 8.2% year-over-year. The Midwest was up 2.2% month-over-month to a rate of 950,000, down 1% year-over-year. The South was up 0 .5% month-over-month to a rate of 1.87 million, up 2.7% year-over-year. Lastly, the West was down 2.6% month-over-month to a rate of 750,000, unchanged year-over-year.
Yun noted that while inventory overall “remains tight” and there are still multiple offer situations occurring, “days on market are lengthening on average, implying that consumers are taking their time before making decisions.”
Taking a look at existing-home price data for April, the median price grew 0.9% year-over-year to $417,700, down from the 1.4% growth from March. This was in line with the 0.7% year-over-year gain seen in the latest Case-Shiller data, which has been observing a decelerating trend as of late.
For housing segments, the single-family median home price was up 1% year-over-year to $422,300, and the condo and co-op price was up 1.1% year-over-year to $374,100. Regionally, the Northeast median price was up 4.8% year-over-year to $510,800, the Midwest was up 3.6% to $324,500, the South was up 0.4% to $366,600 and the West was—counter to other regions—down 1.4% to $619,600.
For the months ahead, Realtor.com® Chief Economist Danielle Hale said there are “reasons to be cautiously optimistic for housing in the rest of 2026.”
Namely, the conflict in the Middle East. Even as it “fades,” Hale said “mortgage rates seem likely to remain higher than we originally expected heading into 2026.”
“Nonetheless, we can be optimistic about a home sales pace that continues to hover right around 4 million despite these rate headwinds,” she continued. “Furthermore, the housing affordability picture is improving from the prior year, if only very gradually.”
Putting it “simply,” Hale said that the situation at hand is that some buyers and sellers are “moving forward with plans,” while others are “waiting in the wings, should conditions improve further.”
