Sales: According to ValleyMLS.com, April home sales in the Huntsville area increased 5.1% year-over-year from 740 to 778 closed transactions. Sales decreased 0.9% from March. Sales are down 1.8% year-to-date. Two more resources to review: Quarterly Report and Annual Report.

For all Huntsville-area housing data, click here.

Inventory: April listings (722) increased 7.4% from March and 40.7% from one year ago. At the current sales pace, all the active inventory on the market would sell in 0.9 month, an increase from 0.7 month in March and up from 0.6 month in April 2021. The equilibrium point where buyers and sellers have roughly equal bargaining power is 6 months of supply.

Pricing: The median sales price in April was $334,700, an increase of 18.3% from one year ago and 0.5% from March. The differing sample size (number of residential sales of comparative months) can contribute to statistical volatility, including pricing. ACRE recommends consulting with a local real estate professional to discuss pricing, as it will vary from neighborhood to neighborhood.

Homes sold in April averaged eight days on the market, selling five days faster than in April 2021.

Forecast: April sales were 26 units, or 3.4%, above the Alabama Center for Real Estate’s (ACRE) monthly forecast. ACRE projected 752 sales for the month, while actual sales were 778 units. ACRE forecast a total of 2,736 sales in the area year-to-date, while there were 2,661 actual sales through April, a difference of 2.7%.

New construction: The 235 new homes sold represent 30.2% of all residential sales in the area in April. Total sales increased 7.3% year-over-year. The median sales price in April was $363,900, a decrease of 0.6% from March and an increase of 21.3% from one year ago.

Statewide summary: Home sales cooled off in April, falling 6% from one year ago. Fast-rising mortgage rates, rising home prices and inflation have resulted in a slower pace of buyer activity. More declines are expected in the coming months as home sales are likely to return to pre-pandemic levels. Slowing home sales will encourage home price growth to readjust toward more sustainable rates while also encouraging a gradual increase in supply.

Home sales prices continue to trend upward, with the statewide median sales price reaching the highest level on record in April ($234,100), an increase of 16% from one year ago. As demand slows, price growth is expected to moderate to the 8-10% range by the fourth quarter of 2022.

After reaching a record low in February, inventory is beginning to trend upward. April listings increased 24.2% from March and 4.3% from one year ago, the first year-over-year inventory gain at the statewide level in more than seven years. Inventory is expected to continue growing, but at a slow pace as sales activity cools. The imbalance between supply and demand, however, continued in April with just 1.5 months of supply, while a balanced market has 4-6 months of supply.

National summary: According to the National Association of Realtors (NAR), existing home sales declined for the third consecutive month in April, falling 2.4% from March (seasonally adjusted annual rate). Sales increased from the prior month in the Northeast and Midwest, while they slowed in the South and West regions. Year-over-year, national home sales declined 5.9%.

The median sales price for all housing types was $391,200, rising 14.8% year-over-year and marking 122 consecutive months of year-over-year gains. Rising home prices are largely a result of low housing inventory amid sustained demand. Existing home inventory totaled 1,030,000 listings at the end of April, up 10.8% from March 2021 and down 10.4% from 1.15 million listings one year ago. April’s 2.2 months of supply increased from 1.9 months during March but is down slightly from 2.3 months one year ago.

Lawrence Yun, chief economist for NAR, said, “Higher home prices and sharply higher mortgage rates have reduced buyer activity. It looks like more declines are imminent in the upcoming months, and we’ll likely return to the pre-pandemic home sales activity after the remarkable surge over the past two years.”

Yun also commented on the rare market conditions. “The market is quite unusual as sales are coming down but listed homes are still selling swiftly, and home prices are much higher than a year ago,” he said.

Yun also said, “An increasing number of buyers with short tenure expectations could opt for five-year adjustable-rate mortgages, thereby assuring fixed payments over five years because of the rate reset. The cash buyers, not impacted by mortgage rate changes, remain elevated.”

Click here to view the entire monthly report.

The Huntsville Area Residential Monthly Report is developed in connection with the Huntsville Area Association of Realtors.