Sales of previously owned US homes jumped in July, according to industry data released Thursday, as mortgage rates ticked down slightly in the month and helped with affordability.
Existing home sales rose by 2.0 per cent last month, said the National Association of Realtors (NAR), reaching a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 4.0 million.
This was above a 3.9 million rate median forecast from surveys of economists conducted by Dow Jones Newswires and The Wall Street Journal.
鈥楾he ever-so-slight improvement in housing affordability is inching up home sales,鈥� said NAR chief economist Lawrence Yun in a statement.
鈥榃age growth is now comfortably outpacing home price growth, and buyers have more choices,鈥� he added.
But he noted in a press call that turnover in the home sales market still remained 鈥榮luggish.鈥�
On the bright side, however, 鈥榳e have now the highest inventory since the 2020 lockdown period,鈥� Yun told reporters.
The NAR report noted that total housing inventory, exceeding 1.5 million units, was 15.7 per cent up from July 2024.
鈥楢s people need to move, people are putting their homes on the market,鈥� Yun said.
Property sales in the United States have been bogged down in recent years as homeowners who locked in significantly lower mortgage rates previously were reluctant to enter the housing market.
This dragged on the supply of existing homes, nudging homebuyers into the market for new properties instead.
But in July, the popular 30-year fixed-rate mortgage hovered around 6.7 per cent, down slightly from 6.8 per cent or so in June.
Meanwhile, the median home price in July was up just 0.2 per cent from last year at $422,400.
鈥楴ear-zero growth in home prices suggests that roughly half the country is experiencing price reductions,鈥� Yun said.
But the median level still remains markedly higher than costs seen at the start of this year.
Year-over-year, sales rose in the South, Northeast, and Midwest, and they fell in the West of the country, said the NAR.
