by Calculated Risk on 6/22/2016 10:10:00 AM

From the NAR: Existing-Home Sales Grow 1.8 Percent in May; Highest Pace in Over Nine Years

Total existing-home sales, which are completed transactions that include single-family homes, townhomes, condominiums and co-ops, grew 1.8 percent to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 5.53 million in May from a downwardly revised 5.43 million in April. With last month's gain, sales are now up 4.5 percent from May 2015 (5.29 million) and are at their highest annual pace since February 2007 (5.79 million). ...

Total housing inventory at the end of May rose 1.4 percent to 2.15 million existing homes available for sale, but is still 5.7 percent lower than a year ago (2.28 million). Unsold inventory is at a 4.7-month supply at the current sales pace, which is unchanged from April.

Click on graph for larger image.

This graph shows existing home sales, on a Seasonally Adjusted Annual Rate (SAAR) basis since 1993.

Sales in May (5.53 million SAAR) were 1.8% higher than last month, and were 4.5% above the May 2015 rate.

The second graph shows nationwide inventory for existing homes.

According to the NAR, inventory increased to 2.15 million in May from 2.12 million in April.   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 decreased 5.7% year-over-year in May compared to May 2015.  

Months of supply was at 4.7 months in May.

This was close to consensus expectations. For existing home sales, a key number is inventory - and inventory is still low. I'll have more later ...