Housing Inventory Up Again in April

The number of homes for sale was on the rise again in April. Nationally, inventories expanded 3.5% last month overall and were up 6% over the same period last year.

Even some markets that used to be considered bulletproof have seen inventories grow and these bloated inventories have put pressure on home sellers to slash prices that have already been on a steep decline.

A National Association of Realtors study shows house sales remained soft in March, but the organization is forecasting sales will begin to improve over the summer.

The NAR's Pending Home Sales Index dropped 1 percent to 83 in March and was 20.1 percent lower than the March 2007 index of 103.9.

Existing-home sales are projected to rise from an annual pace of 4.95 million in the first quarter to 5.82 million in the fourth quarter.  NAR projects a median sales price of $213,700 and a 4.1 percent jump to $222,600 in 2009.