Sales of existing homes in the United States rose by 2.0% in July as housing affordability began to improve, according to the National Association of Realtors (NAR).
The annual sale rate was 4.01 million in July, and rose by 0.8% year-over-year. Existing home sales rose year-over-year across all regions except the West.
“The ever-so-slight improvement in housing affordability is inching up home sales,” said NAR chief economist Lawrence Yun. “Wage growth is now comfortably outpacing home price growth, and buyers have more choices. Condominium sales increased in the South region, where prices had been falling for the past year.”
“Near-zero growth in home prices suggests that roughly half the country is experiencing price reductions,” said Yun. “The market's health is supported by a cumulative 49% home price appreciation for a typical American homeowner from pre-COVID July 2019 to July this year.”
Existing home sales had decreased by 2.7% in June, with an annual sales rate of 3.93 million.
In July, the largest month-over-month sales increase was in the Northeast, at 8.7%. The South saw the largest year-over-year sales increase, at 2.2%.
Total housing inventory was 1.55 million units last month, rising by 15.7% year-over-year. NAR reported a 4.6-month supply of unsold inventory, falling from 4.7 months in June and up from 4.0 months one year ago.
The median existing home sale price was US$422,400 across all housing types. This was up 0.2% year-over-year, the 25th consecutive month of price increases, but fell from the $426,900 recorded in June.
The West had the highest median housing price at US$620,700, though this fell 1.4% year-over-year.
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