Existing US home sales are down for the third month in a row

The National Association of Realtors said today that US existing home sales fell 2.7% to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 5.85 million units in April, the third consecutive month of decline. Analysts had expected US existing home sales to rise 2.0% to 6.09 million units in April, and the median current home price rose 19.1% from a year ago to $ 341,600 in April.

On an annual basis, US existing home sales, which account for the bulk of US home sales, increased 33.9% in the 12 months to April, and there were 1.16 million pre-owned homes on the market in April, down 20.5% from a year ago.