Existing Home Sales in July Up 2% Month-Over-Month and 1.5% Year-Over-year

On Monday, the National Association of Realtors® (NAR) reported that total existing home sales, which are completed transactions for single-family homes, townhomes, condominiums and co-ops, increased 2.0% from June to a seasonally adjusted rate at 5.99 million homes in July. This marks the second consecutive month of increases. Year-over-year sales are up 1.5% (5.90 million in July 2020).

At the end of July, unsold inventory totaled 1.32 million units, or approximately a 2.6-month supply at the current sales pace. This is up 7.3% from June’s supply rate of 2.5 months but down 12.0% year-over-year from July 2020’s rate of 3.1 months.

The median existing-home price for all housing types in July was $359,900, up 17.8% from July 2020 ($305,600), as each region saw prices climb. This marks 113 straight months of year-over-year gains.

In a statement prepared for the July total existing home sales report, Lawrence Yun, NAR’s chief economist said, “We see inventory beginning to tick up, which will lessen the intensity of multiple offers. Much of the home sales growth is still occurring in the upper-end markets, while the mid- to lower-tier areas aren’t seeing as much growth because there are still too few starter homes available.” Yun added, “Although we shouldn’t expect to see home prices drop in the coming months, there is a chance that they will level off as inventory continues to gradually improve. In the meantime, some prospective buyers who are priced out are raising the demand for rental homes and thereby pushing up the rental rates.”