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Home sales plunge, home prices keep rising
March 2025 home sales slowed to an annual pace of just 4.02 million, the slowest number for the month since the dark days of March 2009, the National Association of Realtors (NAR) reports.
“This is a little disappointing,” NAR Chief Economist Lawrence Yun told reporters this morning. “I thought more inventory would lead to more sales, but that’s not the case.”
But the pricing trend remains sunny: The median home sale price for March was $403,700, the highest March median on record.
Yun pointed to mortgage rates as a headwind: The average 30-year fixed mortgage rate rose from a low of 6.2 percent in September 2024 to above 7 percent in early 2025. It stood at 6.86 percent as of April 23, according to Bankrate’s weekly .
“If we can get some progress on mortgage rates, that will do wonders for sluggish home sales,” Yun said.
Existing-home sales up from last month, down from last year
The count of existing-home sales incorporates all completed resales, including single-family houses, condos, townhouses and co-ops. According to NAR, the number of sales nationally increased from the previous month to an annual pace of 4.02 million transactions in March.
