National Housing Report: Month-over-month growth

For the 3rd month in a row, May home sales rose higher than sales in the previous month. While May sales were 11.5% higher than April, they remained below the same period last year by 9.9%. Only three of the 52 metro areas included in the May survey experienced lower sales than the previous month. Home prices continued to push higher in May, with a 7.7% increase over May 2013, which is a greater increase than the 5.8% rise seen in April. While both credit availability and inventory remain tight, May became the 6th consecutive month with fewer year-over-year inventory losses than the previous month. At the rate of home sales in May, the Months Supply of inventory dropped to 3.8, where a supply of 6.0 indicates a market balanced equally between buyers and sellers.