Existing home sales in the United States went up 6.4 percent in April, making it the first evident rise in the last three months, according to the data released by the National Association of Realtors. This is an indication of the strengthening real estate market.
Freeing itself from the cold freeze, the housing market is finally picking up steam. According to the report, sales of existing single-family homes rose 0.5 percent to a seasonally adjusted 4.06 million in April. Sales of condos and co-ops rose 7.3 percent to 590,000 in April.
NAR also announced that April saw a growth in inventory as well. Total supply spiked 16.8 percent to 2.29 million units.
"Some growth was inevitable after sub-par housing activity in the first quarter, but improved inventory is expanding choices and sales should generally trend upward from this point," said Lawrence Yun, chief economist at NAR, in a statement.
Though inventory grew, prices saw a hike too. Home prices across all types of residences grew 5.2 percent from a year ago.
"Current price data suggests a trend of slower growth, which bodes well for preserving favorable affordability conditions in much of the country," Yun added.
All the figures point towards a better real estate season. Experts hope that the record low mortgages and increase in supply will boost home-buying activity in the coming months.
"The improvement in availability suggests stronger sales activity in the months ahead," said Russell Price, senior economist at Ameriprise Financial Inc, to Bloomberg.
The surging housing market will also help improve the economy.
"If consumers continue to spend, and businesses pick up the pace of investment, the industrial core of the economy will benefit and GDP growth could move closer towards the 3 percent range," said Ken Goldstein, an economist at the Conference Board, in a statement to the agency.
While experts hope that the weather could help release the accumulated demand, they still remain uncertain about the momentum of growth, reports The Wall Street Journal. Many think that this is just the initial stages of a massive rebound. Others believe that the growth shall continue albeit at a slow pace.
"We'll continue to see a balancing act between housing inventory and price growth, which remains stronger than normal simply because there have not been enough sellers in many areas. More inventory and increased new-home construction will help to foster healthy market conditions," Yun added in the statement.
