Home sales unexpectedly drop nearly 2% in April amid high mortgage rates and rising prices
NY Post
High mortgage rates and rising prices continued to put a damper on the spring home-buying season last month.
Existing home sales fell 1.9% to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 4.14 million in April from a revised 4.22 million in March, the National Association of Realtors reported Wednesday.
Sales dropped across the country — down 4% in the Northeast, 2.6% in the West, 1.6% in the South and 1% in the Midwest.
The median price of previously occupied homes rose 5.7% to $407,600 — the 10th straight increase and a record for April.
Lawrence Yun, the association’s chief economist, called the sales drop “a little frustrating.’’ Economists had expected sales to come in at 4.2 million.
The rate on the benchmark 30-year, fixed-rate loan has risen five of the last six weeks and stands at 7.02%, up from 6.39% a year ago.
