Sales of existing homes fell a wider-than-expected 8.5% in March compared with February to an annualized pace of 5.27 million units, according to the National Association of Realtors’ seasonally adjusted index.

Sales of existing homes fell a wider-than-expected 8.5% in March compared with February to an annualized pace of 5.27 million units, according to the National Association of Realtors’ seasonally adjusted index.

Sales were just 0.8% higher than in March 2019.

These sales figures are based on closings that represent contracts signed mostly in late January and February, before the coronavirus shut down so much of the economy.

“We saw the stock market correction in late February,” said Lawrence Yun, chief economist at the NAR. “The first half of March held on reasonably well, but it was the second half of March where we saw a measurable decline in sales activity.”

Yun indicated sales could fall as much as 30% to 40% in the coming months.

Regionally, sales dropped across the nation but hardest in the West, down 13.6% month to month. Sales fell 9.1% in the South, 7.1% in the Northeast and 3.1% in the Midwest.