After reporting a sharp increase in U.S. existing home sales in the previous month, the National Association of Realtors released a report on Thursday showing existing home sales pulled back by much more than expected in the month of January.
NAR said existing home sales plunged by 8.4 percent to an annual rate of 3.91 million in January after surging by 4.4 percent to a downwardly revised rate of 4.27 million in December.
The report also said housing inventory at the end of January totaled 1.22 million units, down 0.8 percent from 1.23 million units in December but up 3.4 percent from 1.18 million units a year ago.
The unsold inventory represents 3.7 months of supply at the current sales pace, up from 3.5 months in December and in January 2025.
Meanwhile, NAR said the median existing home price slumped by 2.1 percent to $396,800 in January from $405,100 in December but climbed by 0.9 percent from $393,400 a year ago.