US existing home sales rebound, snap four months of declines

Existing home sales in the US rebounded slightly in July after a sharp drop the previous month, according to data out on Thursday from the National Association of Realtors.

Some 3.95m houses were sold in July, a 1.3% increase over the month, snapping four straight monthly declines and a significant improvement from the revised 5.1% slump registered in June.

This was slightly ahead of the 3.93m reading expected by economists.

Three out of four major US regions saw sales rise, while the Midwest held steady. However, despite the modest month-on-month gain, home sales are "still sluggish", according to the NAR chief economist Lawrence Yun.

"But consumers are definitely seeing more choices, and affordability is improving due to lower interest rates."

Nancy Vanden Houten, lead US economist at Oxford Economics, said that the recent decline in mortgage rates "may gain steam as interest-rate cuts by the Federal Reserve get underway, [which] will support a modest rebound in home sales later in the year."

The research agency predicts that sales will approach 4.2m by the end of the year, matching March's level.