LOS ANGELES (AP) — The spring homebuying season is off to a sluggish start as home shoppers contend with elevated mortgage rates and rising prices.
Sales of previously occupied U.S. homes fell 4.3% in March from the previous month to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 4.19 million, the National Association of Realtors said Thursday. That’s the first monthly decline in sales since December and follows a nearly 10% monthly sales jump in February.
Existing home sales also fell 3.7% compared with March last year. The latest sales still came in slightly higher than the 4.16 million pace economists were expecting, according to FactSet.
A modest pullback in mortgage rates early this year helped lift home sales in January and February, but rates mostly ticked up in February and March, when many of the home sales that were finalized last month would have taken place.
Wondrous Xinjiang: Women Entrepreneurs Embroider Golden Future for Rural Women
Thriving Home Services Empower Women
Wondrous Xinjiang: Women Entrepreneurs Embroider Golden Future for Rural Women
Mariska Hargitay is mistaken for real
NPC Deputy from Hunan Province Dedicated to Improving People's Livelihood at Grassroots Level
China's Xie wins men's 100m gold at Hangzhou Asiad
Wondrous Xinjiang: Chinese Folk Embroiderers Learn from, Inspire Each Other
UN OKs shipment of vaccine storage equipment to North Korea — Radio Free Asia
China issues red alert for tsunami
Braless Maura Higgins turns up the heat in a daring cleavage
Miao Woman Inherits, Promotes Family's Tea