According to the National Association of Manufacturers’ (NAM) Monday Economic Report for this week, existing home sales jumped 14.5% from 4.00 million units at the annual rate in January to 4.58 million units in February. Single-family sales rose 15.3% from 3.59 million units to 4.14 million units, and condominium and co-op sales increased 7.3% from 410,000 units to 440,000 units. The housing market, however, has still been challenged over the past year by issues of affordability. On a YoY basis, existing home sales dropped 22.6% from 5.92 million units in February 2022.

The Federal Open Market Committee increased short-term interest rates by 25 basis points at the conclusion of its March 21–22 meeting, with the target federal funds rate now rising to 4.75–5.00%. Recent banking failures and stress in the financial system heavily impacted the latest policy actions. The latest FOMC statement suggests that there will be at least one more rate hike in upcoming meetings, with the target federal funds rate rising to 5.00–5.25% and holding at that level for the rest of the year.