US Existing Home Sales lose their momentum, worst to come in April and May – Wells Fargo

Data released on Tuesday showed Existing Home Sales dropped in March 8.5% to a 5.27 million unit (annual). Analysts at Wells Fargo point out sale closings lag by a month or two, meaning the freeze in showings and contracts will show up in the April and May data.

Key Quotes: 

“Home sales posted the largest decline since 2015, as COVID-19 took the air out of the accelerating housing recovery. Even before stay-at-home orders became widespread in mid-March, plunging equity markets and mounting recession fears likely sidelined some potential buyers. April will show a much more precipitous decline, as it was extremely difficult to show a home and listings plummeted.”

“Even though mass layoffs will thin the pool of prospective homebuyers, we see housing faring better than many other sectors, given the persistently low inventories.”