U.S. May Existing Home Sales - Underlying picture near flat
May existing home sales saw an unexpected 0.8% increase to 4.03m which follows a 0.5% fall in April to 4.00m which was also unexpected. This suggests a fairly subdued picture, but a more resilient one than some surveys, notably pending home sales and the NAHB index, have implied.
Existing home sales are still underperforming new home sales where a strong April increase will be difficult to sustain. Rising pressure on mortgage rates due to Fed reluctance to ease and budget deficit concerns continue to weigh on housing demand.
A 2.1% rise in the median price is largely seasonal with yr/yr growth continuing to slow, to 1.3% from 1.8%, reaching its slowest since June 2023. Yr/yr growth is sales has been marginally negative for four straight months, if improved to -0.7% in May from -2.0% in April.
