Inventory shortages were a factor in a slowdown of existing home sales last month. The decline was driven by the Midwest and the Northeast.
July 2017 saw a preliminary 513,000 existing residential properties sold. That brought sales to 3.204 million during the seven months ended July 31.
The activity that was reported is reflective of the sales of single-family homes, townhomes, condominiums and co-operatives.
The National Association of Realtors released the numbers Thursday.
Making adjustments for seasonal factors, the annual U.S. rate of existing home sales preliminarily came in last month at 5.440 million.
Existing home sales fell more than 1 percent from the
downwardly revised rate for June. But there was a 2 percent gain from the downwardly revised level for July 2016.
“Buyer interest in most of the country has held up strongly this summer and homes are selling fast, but the negative effect of not enough inventory to choose from and its pressure on overall affordability put the brakes on what should’ve been a higher sales pace,” NAR Chief Economist Lawrence Yun explained. “Contract activity has mostly trended downward since February and ultimately put a large dent on closings last month.”
A 15 percent month-over-month decline in the Northeast was the largest drop for any region and left the seasonally adjusted annual rate at 0.65 million.
Sales fell 5 percent in the Midwest to 1.25 million.
But the South saw a 2 percent gain to a 2.28 million rate, while the
West climbed 5 percent to 1.26 million.
On just single-family properties, last month’s seasonally adjusted annual U.S. rate was 4.84 million on single-family homes.
July 2017 concluded with a U.S. inventory of 1.92 million and a 4.2 -month supply.
Last month’s U.S. median sales price was $258,300,
and th average price was $298,800.
Yun noted, “Home prices are still rising above incomes and way too fast in many markets.”
Homes were on the market an average of 30 days, two days longer than the prior month.
First-time buyer share was a third,
all-cash share was 19 percent, and distressed sales share was 5 percent.
