US Existing Home Sales: A bitter taste of what is to come – BMO

As of the April 10th week, purchase applications were down 35% from year-ago and pre-shock levels, which gives a taste of what's to come for sales activity, Robert Kavcic from the Bank of Montreal reports.

Key quotes

“US existing home sales fell 8.5% in March to 5.27 mln annualized units, worse than expected and an early look at the fallout from COVID-19 shutdowns.”

“Prices were still pushing higher in the month on a seasonally-adjusted basis, and the median was up a solid 8.0% from year-ago levels.” 

“New home sales results (Thursday) will give us another look, but that too will cover March. Note that homebuilder confidence plunged in April by the most on record, to the lowest level since 2012, so some tough numbers are still to come.”