According to Lawrence Yun, the NAR Chief Economist, the June spike in mortgage rate caused July’s existing home sales activity to dip. Yun said we’re witnessing a “housing recession” in terms of declining home sales and home building. However, Yun also noted there isn’t a recession in terms of home prices. Despite the slow-down, the tight inventory is allowing nearly 40% of homes nationwide to still command the full list price.
Here are some key home sales stats from July:
- Existing-home sales fell for the sixth consecutive month to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 4.81 million.
- Sales were down 5.9% from June and 20.2% from one year ago.
- The median existing-home sales price climbed 10.8% from one year ago to $403,800. That’s down $10,000, however, from last month’s record high of $413,800.
- The inventory of unsold existing homes rose to 1.31 million by the end of July, or the equivalent of 3.3 months at the current monthly sales pace.