Stephen Massaha

Existing home sales fell almost 8.5% compared with December.

Some of that could be blamed on bad weather, but also on consumers feeling down about the economy making them less likely to move.

The median sales price was about $397,000, up just a bit less than a percent compared with a year ago.

The good news is wages have grown faster, and the National Association of Realtors says housing affordability is the best it's been in about four years.

But homeowners and will-be buyers are not looking back four years, but five, back when mortgage rates were half what they are today.

They have declined a bit over the last year, but homeowners are still reluctant to move and give up their old lower rate.

Stephen Massaha, NPR News.

The order itself is pretty limited.

Trump can't ban the sale of homes to institutional investors with an executive order.

But his order does tell several federal agencies that in 60 days, they must stop supporting these sales through things like providing insurance or approvals.

And it tells his cabinet to review rules to make those purchases harder.

Last year, institutional investors only owned about 3% of the single-family rental market.

But those numbers are much higher in some Sunbelt cities, like Atlanta, where it's around 25%.

But some economists say that what's driving up the price of housing is not the number of Wall Street investors.

It's that there aren't enough homes on the market.

Stephen Massaha, NPR News.