American homeowners sold fewer homes than expected in April, suggesting that the housing market remains sluggish due to high prices and elevated mortgage rates.
Compared with the prior month, home sales rose by just 0.2 percent in April, the traditional start of the home-buying season, according to the National Association of Realtors. Compared with the prior April, sales were flat.
The seasonally adjusted, annualized pace of sales rose to 4,020,000, up from 4,010,000 in March.
The NAR reported month-over-month sales increases in the Midwest and South. The pace of sales was unchanged in the Northeast and declined in the West. On a year-over-year basis, sales are only up in the South. They were flat in the West, and fell in both the Northeast and Midwest.
“Despite mixed macroeconomic signals—including a record-high stock market and historically low consumer confidence—home sales were modestly boosted by the continued improvement in housing affordability,” said NAR Chief Economist Dr. Lawrence Yun. “Mortgage rates are lower from a year ago, and average income growth is outpacing home price gains.”
The NAR said that the inventory of homes on the market rose, a seasonally typical development. In April, there were 1.47 million units for sale, up 5.8 percent from March but only a 1.4 percent rise from April 2025.
Selling homes available at the current pace would take 4.4 months, up from 4.2 months in March and 4.3 months a year ago. This measure of inventory is above prepandemic measures despite a lower number of homes on the market, a result of sales being so
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