A “for sale” sign is displayed outside a home in Murrieta, Friday, May 20. Sales of previously occupied U.S. homes slowed in March 2022 to the slowest pace in nearly two years as a swift rise in mortgage rates and record-high prices discouraged would-be homebuyers. Valley News/Shane Gibson photo
Sales of previously occupied U.S. homes slowed for the third consecutive month in April as mortgage rates surged, driving up borrowing costs for would-be buyers as home prices soared to new highs.Existing home sales fell 2.4% last month from March to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 5.61 million, the National Association of Realtors said Thursday, May 18.It was slightly higher than what economists were expecting, according to FactSet. Sales fell 5.9% from April last year. After climbing to a 6.49 million annual rate in January, sales have fallen to the slowest pace since June 2020, near the start of the pandemic, when they were running at an annualized rate of 4.77 million homes.The median home price in April jumped 14.8% from a year ago at this time to $391,200. That’s a
