**MNI 5 Things: US Existing Home Sales Above Expectations

--5 Things We Learned From The Existing Home Sales Data

By Kevin Kastner, Sara Haire, and Holly Stokes

     WASHINGTON (MNI) - The following are the key points from the February

existing home sales data released Wednesday by the National Association of

Realtors:

     - February existing home sales came in strong, rising 3.0% to 5.54M. This

exceeded expectations of 5.40M. January was unrevised at to 5.38M.

     - February resales were mixed in the region. Resales fell 12.3% in the

Northeast and were down 2.4% in the Midwest. But resales were up 6.6% in the

South and surged 11.4% in the West.

     - February home supply +4.6% to 1.590M, but still -8.1 year/year, with the

increase in sales, the months supply stayed at 3.4 months from January, but down

from 3.8 months a year ago.

     - NAR's Chief Economist Lawrence Yun said that there is some resistance to

reselling homes as rising interest rates weigh on people's minds. 

     - National median sales price +5.9% y/y to $241,700 in February. Yun

pointed out that there has been no let up in home prices, consistently rising

above 5% year/year, as a sign of continuing demand vs inventory shortage.

--MNI Washington Bureau; +1 202-371-2121; email: holly.stokes@marketnews.com

[TOPICS: MAUDR$,MAUDS$,M$U$$$]