For the third month in a row, the sale of pre-owned residential properties has moved lower, and the drop was again blamed on a tight supply. The West took the biggest hit.
Existing U.S. sales of single-family homes, town homes, condominiums and co-operatives came to 570,000 housing units in June, bringing the first-half 2018 total to 2.631 million.
Applying adjustments for seasonal variations, the annual rate of existing home sales was 5.38 million last month. Sales slipped less than a percent versus the downwardly revised level the prior month.
Historical data from
the National Association of Realtors, which reported last month’s numbers Monday, indicate that the annual rate of sales has fallen each month since March, when it was 5.60 million.
The deceleration was 2.2 percent compared to a year previous — the fourth consecutive year-over-year decline.
“There continues to be a mismatch since the spring between the growing level of home-buyer demand in most of the country in relation to the actual pace of home sales, which are declining, NAR Chief Economist Lawrence Yun said in a written statement. “The root cause is without a doubt the severe housing shortage that is not releasing its grip on the nation’s housing market. What is for sale in most areas is going under contract very fast and in many cases, has multiple offers.”
Leading the decline from May was the West, where existing home sales fell 2.6 percent to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 1.14 million. The South saw a 2.2 percent decline to 2.25 million.
An 0.8 percent rise left June’s rate at 1.27 million in the Midwest, while the Northeast jumped 5.9 percent to 0.72 million.
On just single-family properties, the seasonally adjusted annual rate was 4.76 million, off 0.6 percent from May.
Last month finished with 1.95 million residential properties in the national inventory for sale.
The inventory worked out to a 4.3 month supply — the most months since it was also 4.3 months in July 2017.
But Yun noted that the slight increase still leaves the inventory well short of its ideal level. In addition, the growing base of prospective buyers is likely to quickly eat up any new supply.
The median U.S. sales price was a record $276,900, and the average price was $314,900. Yun noted that the severe housing shortage is keeping home price growth elevated and locking some buyers out of the market.
First-time buyer share was 31 percent, distressed share was 3 percent,
and all-cash share was 22 percent.
