NAR blame the weather (again)

Existing-home sales took the biggest tumble in 18 years during March. According to the NAR, home resales fell to a 6.12 million annual rate, a 8.4 percent decrease from February's revised 6.68 million annual pace.

The NAR again blamed bad winter weather. "For the last couple of months we've been expecting a weather 'hit' on home sales," NAR chief economist David Lereah said. However, he also conceded that subprime problems in the housing market might have hurt sales.

Althougth inventories of homes fell 1.6 percent at the end of March to 3.75 million, we are still a 7.3-month supply. Sales fell in all four regions of the U.S. Demand dropped 10.9% in the Midwest, 8.2% in the Northeast, 9.1% in the West, and 6.2% in the South.

So here is the key "take-away" from these numbers. Sales away down, inventory still high, all regions affected, the weather is still bad, and the NAR are in denial. In some respects, a fairly ordinary month.