June Existing Home Sales Preview
June Existing Home Sales, released at 10:00am EDT by the National Association of Realtors, are expected to fall 1% to a 4.94mln annual rate following a 4.99mln annual rate in May.
If sales are in line with expectations, the data will reverse May’s upward blip and put existing homes back on the downward path they’ve been on for a year (with the exception of February’s gain).
Single-family Existing Home Sales rose 1.6% in May but are down 14.5% year on year basis the May data. The median existing home sales price rose to $208,600 (still down 6.3% from last year). Inventories fell 1.4% to a 10.8-month supply of unsold homes in the market.
Rising mortgage rates and tightening credit conditions (June Beige Book) over the past month have put downward pressure on home sales. Hopes for a housing market bottom may themselves be bottoming out with tighter credit conditions, fewer types of mortgages available and cratering consumer sentiment measures.
Other recent housing data:
* May New Home Sales fell 2.5% to a 512k annual rate from a downwardly revised 1.9% increase to 525k the prior month
* The May Pending Home Sales Index fell 4.7% to 84.7
* July NAHB Housing Market Index fell to a record low 16
NB: June New Home Sales will be released Friday at 10:00am EDT.