US existing home sales drop by more than expected in February

Second hand home sales in the States fell more sharply than expected last month, but remained comfortably higher than a year ago.

According to the National Association of Realtors, in seasonally adjusted terms the annualised pace of existing hoome sales in the US fell by 6.6% month-on-month to reach 6.22m.

That was slower than the 6.5m clip that economists had penciled-in, but 9.1% higher than a year ago.

NAR chief economist Lawrence Yun attributed the drop to "historically-low inventory" but stressed that the market was still outperforming pre-pandemic levels.

Existing home sales were higher across all regions year-on-year.

In parallel, the number of homes available for sales had shrunk by 29.5% on the year earlier figure to stand at 1.03m units - a record decline.

Similarly, properties were staying on the market for just 20 days, which was also a record low.

Going the other way, prices had bounded higher by 15.8% to $313,000, with rises seen in all regions.

Yun did however caution that a possible slowdown in growth lay ahead, as higher prices and higher mortgage rates "cut" into home affordability.