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.
Braless Maura Higgins turns up the heat in a daring cleavage
China News Jack Ma: Alibaba's founder turns up in Japan as college professor
Bullying rife at Buller High School, students say
Donald Trump's Georgia judge dismisses some criminal charges
Meet TikTok's NEWEST queen bee Leah Halton: Stunning Australian model, 23, is set to become the most
VOX POPULI: Use of honorifics complex at times and not always appropriate
VOX POPULI: Leadership skills of the past are missing in the politics of today
'Barbie' makes history with $1 billion at the box office
Hanna Cavinder announces RETURN to college basketball with Miami
Cheng Lei China: Jailed Australian TV anchor jailed releases rare message
Hanna and Haley Cavinder say they're returning for last season at Miami
Beijing confirms missing Taiwan publisher Li Yanhe is under national security investigation