April data showed continued slow down in sales of existing homes while inventory soared according to a housing market report by the National Association of Realtors released Friday.

NAR detailed that sales by homeowners declined further in April to an annual pace of 4.89 million, down 1% from the revised March reading of 4.94 million.

The existing home sales rate is 17.5% below the 5.93 million units sold in April 2007. The data included single-family, townhomes, condominiums and co-ops.

The median price of a home sold during the month fell to $202,300, down 8% from $219,900 a year ago. Prices are being pushed down by the growing number of existing homes on the market.

Homes available for sale at the end of April rose 10.5% to 4.55 million compared to march supply. This represents an 11.2-month supply at the current sales pace which increased from 10.0-month supply in March.

Single-family home sales dropped 0.5% to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 4.34 million in April, which is 16.1% below the 5.17 million-unit level compared to the same period in 2007.

The median existing single-family home price was $200,700 in April, a decline of 8.5% from a year ago.

Regionally, existing home sales in the West increased 6.4% in April from March to a level of 1 million, propping up the national average. However, while sales in the West were up, they still experienced 15.3% dip compared to Aptil 2007. The median price in the West was $285,700, which is 16.7% lower than April 2007.

Sales in the Northeast fell 4.4% to an annual pace of 870,000 in April, 14.7% down a year ago. The median price in the Northeast was $262,000, which is 7.7% down compared to April 2007.

In the Midwest, existing home sales were at an annual rate of 1.1 million in April, which is 6.0% down from March figures and 19.7% lower than April 2007. The median price in the Midwest was $159,100, less by 2.9% from April 2007.
The effect of the housing bust which started in year 2006 is certainly a far cry from the boom years from 2001 to 2005 when sales of new and existing homes were setting records for five straight years. During that time, home prices soared and lured thousands of investors into the market. Many bought and flipped homes and they made money.

The country’s housing market has experienced the worst since World War II as prices are expected to decline by the largest amount since the Great Depression.