Goldman Sachs reported that US existing home sales fell 3.6% in March, landing at a seasonally adjusted annualized rate (SAAR) of 3.98 million units. The decline outpaced consensus expectations - the median forecast had projected a 0.7% drop to 4.05 million units - and also undershot Goldman Sachs' own projection of a 1.5% decline to 4.03 million units.
The bank's analysis attributed much of the pullback to lagged effects of adverse weather conditions from late January. The March reading came after a revision to February figures, with February sales revised upward by 40,000 units to 4.13 million SAAR.
Declines in March were broad based across property types. Sales of single-family homes decreased 3.5%, while condos and co-ops recorded a larger fall of 5.4%.
Regionally, the Northeast saw the steepest contraction, with sales sliding 8.5% and reaching the lowest level ever recorded for that region. The Midwest fell 4.2%, the South was down 3.1%, and the West decreased 1.3%.
On pricing, the median sales price for all existing homes rose 0.4% month over month on a seasonally adjusted basis, which corresponded to a 1.4% increase compared with the same month a year earlier.
Inventory measures also shifted. The months' supply of existing homes available for sale increased to 4.5 months in March on a seasonally adjusted basis. That figure compares with an average of 3.9 months in 2019 and represents the highest level observed since April 2016.
The March report additionally noted that home sales remained sluggish as lower consumer confidence and softer job growth continued to hold back buyers.
Goldman Sachs left its first-quarter GDP tracking estimate unchanged at a quarter-over-quarter annualized rate of 2.8%.
Bottom line: March's drop in existing home sales was sharper than expected, likely reflecting weather-related delays, with supply rising and prices modestly higher on a month-over-month basis.