Existing Home Sales Increase During Month of May

During the month of May, U.S. existing home sales increased by 2.5% compared to last month, reaching a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 5.34 million units, according to a recent article by Reuters. Lower interest rates for mortgages helped give the data a boost this month.

Reuters speculated the existing home sale rate would reach 5.25 million units, but May surpassed that rate by about 0.1 million units. Despite the unexpected growth, existing home sales have dropped 1.1% year-over-year. Existing home sales account for roughly 90% of U.S. home sales.

Mortgage rates were lower than originally anticipated this year, which comes on the heels of the Fed suspending its "three-year monetary policy tightening campaign," according to Reuters. The rates will remain stagnant in order to help the health of the economy.

—Christie Citranglo, editorial associate