The seasonally adjusted annual rate of existing-home sales for all types of residences in May climbed 3.2% on both monthly and annual bases to 4.16 million, while the median sales price of $429,300 represented a new high for the month, the National Association of REALTORS® said.  

The pace of sales topped the consensus estimate of 4.08 million sales per year. 

Sales of single-family homes rose 3.5% and 3.3% month over month and year over year, respectively, to an annual rate of 3.8 million transactions. The pace of condo and co-op sales was flat month over month at an annual rate of 370,000. Year over year, condo sales were up 2.8%. 

“More Americans are on the move, with home sales rising to the highest level since December. This is great news for the housing market and the economy,” said NAR Chief Economist Lawrence Yun. “Improving affordability is helping drive this momentum. Even with mortgage rates ticking up compared to earlier in the year, they remain lower than a year ago and are essentially at the long-term historical average. Income gains are also outpacing home-price growth by a small margin in most parts of the country.” 

Regionally, the month-over-month rate of sales increased in the Northeast, Midwest and South and was flat in the West. Year-over-year sales rose in the Midwest, South and West and fell in the Northeast. 

Inventory rose 3.3% month over month and 0.6% year over year to 1.55 million homes, which equals a 4.5-month supply of unsold inventory, unchanged from April and down from 4.6 months a year ago.  

The average 30-year fixed-rate mortgage in April was 6.44%, up from 6.33% in April and down from 6.82% a year earlier.  

“The new record-high May home price reflects solid fundamentals for homeowners and ongoing supply constraints,” Yun said. “Increased home sales mean more economic activity — lawn care, furniture purchases, moving services, mortgage originations and other related business activities all get a boost.”