JULY EXISTING HOME SALES UP 3.1% TO 5mln ANNUAL RATE
Existing Home Sales rose 3.1% to a 5mln annual rate in July – better than expected, and after a downwardly revised 4.85mln pace in June. Sales were down 13.2% from a year ago.
Single-family home sales rose 3.1% in July while condo sales increased 3.4%.
Despite the uptick in sales, inventories of unsold homes on the market rose 3.9% to a record 4.67mln, representing a 11.2-month supply (tying the all-time high in April). Although inventories of single-family homes were relatively unchanged, condo inventories jumped almost 25% to an all-time high, likely due to the impact of new construction coming onto the market, according to NAR chief economist Lawrence Yun.
Three out of four regions showed increases in sales with the Northeast up 5.9%, the Midwest rising 0.9%, the West jumping 9.7%. Sales in the South fell 0.5%.
The median price of an existing home was down 7.1% y-o-y to $212,400 in July.