Existing-home sales up for the first time in 4 months

by Craig Wales

3 min read

Existing-home sales had been slipping over the last four months, but July saw a slight comeback as nationwide closings inched up by 1.3%, according to the National Association of Realtors® (NAR). Three out of the four regions saw growth month-over-month. Home prices and listings also went up in July.

"Despite the modest gain, home sales are still sluggish," said NAR Chief Economist Lawrence Yun. "But consumers are definitely seeing more choices and affordability is improving due to lower interest rates."

Regionally, the Northeast led the way. The Midwest was the only region not to post a gain, but it came in even from June.

Northeast: up 4.3%, an annual rate of 490,000, up 2.1% from July 2023
Midwest: unchanged at 0.0%, an annual rate of 920,000, down 5.2% from July 2023
South: up 1.1%, an annual rate of 1,790,000, down 3.8% from July 2023
West: up 1.4%, an annual rate of 750,000, up 1.4% from July 2023

Good news on inventory

Continuing a summer trend, the number of homes for sale (also called unsold inventory) rose in July. Unsold inventory sits at a 4.0-month supply at the current sales pace, down just .1 months from June. That’s maintaining the level above four-months that hadn’t been seen since the beginning of the pandemic.

Inventory came in at 1.33 million units, up 0.8% from June and 19.8% from one year ago (1.11 million). That’s good news for first-time homebuyers who now have more options and less upward pressure on prices.

Speaking of prices, they retreated a little bit from June, dropping by 1%. This is typical in July, as June often sees the highest home prices as they move up and down with the seasons. Prices did go up from July 2023, pushing up by 4.3%, the 13th consecutive month of year-over-year gains. All four regions saw prices go up.

Month	Median existing-home price	Month-over-month	Year-over-year
June	$410,200	Up 3.6%	Down 0.9%
July	$406,700	Down 0.9%	Up 1.9%
August	$407,100	Up 0.1%	Up 3.9%
September	$394,300	Down 3.1%	Up 2.8%
October	$391,800	Down 0.6%	Up 3.4%
November	$387,600	Down 1.1%	Up 4.0%
December	$382,600	Down 1.3%	Up 4.4%
January	$379,100	Down 0.9%	Up 5.1%
February	$384,500	Up 1.4%	Up 5.7%
March	$393,500	Up 2.3%	Up 4.8%
April	$407,600	Up 3.6%	Up 5.7%
May	$419,300	Up 2.9%	Up 5.8%
June	$426,900	Up 1.8%	Up 4.1%
July	$422,600	Down 1.0%	Up 4.3%

The Who and the What of July sales

First-time homebuyers were responsible for 29% of sales in July, identical to the 27% in June and down from 30% in July 2023. All-cash sales made up 27% of transactions in July.

The vast majority of sales were of single-family homes, which grew 1.4% last month. Condominium and co-op sales held steady from June, and were down 11.6% from a year ago. "The median home price of condominiums is cheaper, yet the condominium market is underperforming compared to the single-family market," Yun noted. "Rising maintenance and insurance costs have lessened the appeal for condominiums."

Could today’s news mean that the market is improving? Possibly. The inventory news is welcome and could help cool home prices. Mortgage rates have been hovering near 6.5% over the last few weeks as well. These positive signs could lead to more buyers getting into the market. If that happens, Same Day Mortgage can help you compete, especially with deep-pocketed buyers who may purchase with cash.

Source: https://www.nar.realtor/newsroom/existing-home-sales-advanced-1-3-in-july-ending-four-month-skid

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