United States second-hand house sales unexpectedly fell in March, and the continuous rise in prices has become a challenge for homebuyers.

The US real estate market performed weakly in March 2025, with existing home sales falling more than expected, mainly due to high housing prices and persistently high mortgage rates. According to data released by the National Association of Realtors (NAR) on Thursday, the seasonally adjusted annual rate of existing home sales in the US in March was 4.02 million units, a 5.9% decrease from February, exceeding the market's expected 4.12 million units. This number represents a 2.4% year-on-year decrease, making it the weakest March since 2009. Lawrence Yun, Chief Economist at NAR, said at a press conference, "Due to affordability issues caused by high mortgage rates, real estate transactions remained weak in March." Despite the decline in sales volume, home prices continued to rise. The median sales price of existing homes in March was $403,700, a 2.7% increase from the same period last year. Although this increase was lower than the 3.4% in February, it still indicates continued upward pressure on prices. In terms of market inventory, data shows that there were 1.33 million existing homes for sale at the end of March, an increase of nearly 20% from the same period last year, but still lower than the normal level of about 1.8 million units before the COVID-19 pandemic. Yun pointed out that if inventory continues to increase, it will help lower prices. He gave an example that new housing and apartment prices in the southern region have decreased, partly due to an increase in supply. "The apartment market in southern states is experiencing oversupply, mainly related to the apartment situation in Florida," Yun explained. "The prices of apartments in these areas have decreased by 4.5% compared to the same period last year." Despite some signs of price easing in the current market, most economists still predict a slight overall increase in house prices this year. According to a recent survey of over 100 real estate experts by Realtor.com, the average expectation is for house prices to rise by 3.4% in 2025, lower than the 5.8% increase in 2024 but still indicative of market expectations for rising prices. However, some market participants hold a more cautious view of future trends. Zillow recently projected that its measure of housing prices will decline by 1.9% this year. Zillow's Senior Economist Kara Ng said, "As mortgage rates decreased in March, sellers are more eager to enter the market than buyers, weakening the momentum for price increases. The key is whether sellers return to the market faster than buyers." Joel Berner, Senior Economist at Realtor.com, pointed out that if current listing trends continue, real estate inventory could recover to pre-pandemic levels later this year. He mentioned that in cities like Austin, the number of listings has exceeded pre-pandemic levels, and the listing prices per square foot in the area have also started to decline. "In a situation where buyers are decreasing and listings are increasing, we expect prices to go down," Berner said. "This trend will be more pronounced in markets where supply has exceeded pre-pandemic levels, and the country is approaching this threshold." Ng added that the drop in prices is good news for buyers who are on the fence. "This provides an opportunity for buyers to enter the market."