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Sales of previously occupied U.S. homes were essentially flat in April,\u00a0another lackluster showing<\/a>\u00a0for the housing market during what\u2019s traditionally its busiest time of the year.<\/p>\n Existing home sales edged up 0.2% last month from March to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 4.02 million units, the National Association of Realtors said Monday. Sales were unchanged compared to April last year.<\/p>\n The latest sales figure fell short of the roughly 4.12 million pace economists were expecting, according to FactSet.<\/p>\n Sales have been hovering close to a 4-million annual pace now going back to 2023, far short of the historic norm that is closer to 5.2 million.<\/p>\n And home prices continued to rise nationally last month, albeit at a slower rate. The U.S. median sales price increased 0.9% in April from a year earlier, to $417,700, an all-time high for any April on data going back to 1999, NAR said. Home prices have risen on an annual basis for 34 months in a row.<\/p>\n The U.S. housing market has been in a slump since 2022, when mortgage rates began to climb from pandemic-era lows. Sales of previously occupied U.S. homes were essentially flat last year, stuck at\u00a0a 30-year low.<\/a>\u00a0They have remained sluggish so far this year, declining from a year earlier through the first three months of this year.<\/p>\n \u201cThis spring homebuying season, so far all the way through April, we can say we are not predicting any increase compared to one year ago,\u201d said Lawrence Yun, NAR\u2019s chief economist.<\/p>\n While average incomes are now rising at a faster pace than U.S. home prices, affordability remains a major hurdle for aspiring homeowners.<\/p>\n Years of soaring home prices, especially in the early part of this decade when rock-bottom mortgage rates fueled a buying frenzy, have left many would-be homebuyers frozen out of the market. And a chronic shortage of homes for sale nationally, due partly to years of below-average new home construction, has helped prop up home prices even in a multiyear sales slump.<\/p>\n Homes purchased last month likely went under contract in February and March, when the average rate on a 30-year mortgage ranged from 5.98%\u2014its lowest level in three and a half years\u2014to 6.38%, according to mortgage buyer Freddie Mac. The average rate was at\u00a06.37% last week.<\/a><\/p>\n