US existing home sales fall a bit more than expected in July

Existing-home sales in the US fell a tad more quickly than expected last month, although an industry lobby group held out the possibility that they might stabilise.

According to the National Association of Realtors, in seasonally adjusted terms, the annualised rate of existing-home sales dropped at a month-on-month clip of 5.9% to reach 4.81m (consensus: 4.9m).

That left sales 20.2% below their year earlier level.

"The ongoing sales decline reflects the impact of the mortgage rate peak of 6% in early June," NAR Chief Economist Lawrence Yun said.

"Home sales may soon stabilize since mortgage rates have fallen to near 5%, thereby giving an additional boost of purchasing power to home buyers."

The inventory of homes available for sale on the other hand was unchanged from a year ago, although it increased by 4.8% on the month to 1.31m.

In terms of how many months' worth of sales they could cover at the current pace, supply was rose to 3.3 months, up from 2.9 months in June and 2.6 in July 2021.

The median price of an existing-hime improved by 10.8% on the year to reach $403,800 with all regions registering rises.

It marked the 125th consecutive year-on-year rise, the longest streak on record.

Versus June however, the median price declined by $10,000.