Existing Home Sales Up O.3% HOLY COW!! The Market is SIZZLING!!

Not really.
Increased buying in inexpensive markets may have indeed sparked this ever-so-slight increase but I would speculate based on New York City activity that the modest increase in buying is also attributable to increased negotiability in prices for buyers.
In March, we saw increased open house attendance with offers coming in most frequently under the asking price. This is very exciting for all of those buyers who have been waiting on the sidelines for the ability to jump in to the market. Even just nine months ago, many of these same buyers were losing property after property in multiple bidding situations.
And although some of those multiple bidding situations still occur (when property is priced attractively and has “special” features), the market has cooled to a much more normal level where buyers make offers, sellers counter those offers, and a meeting of the minds takes place somewhere in between. This is an exciting environment for the patient buyer who has felt overwhelmed by the recent housing market. Perhaps those buyers are coming aboard, which is why we have seen this positive blip in activity.