US existing home sales fall for fifth straight month in June

According to the National Association of Realtors, existing home sales fell at a 5.45 month-on-month pace in seasonally adjusted terms to reach an annualised pace of 5.12m (consensus: 5.4m).

"Falling housing affordability continues to take a toll on potential home buyers," said NAR chief economist Lawrence Yun.

"Both mortgage rates and home prices have risen too sharply in a short span of time."

In comparison to a year ago, sales were down by 14.2%.

As a result, the inventory of homes available for sale jumped by 9.6% on the month to 1.26m or 3.0 months' worth of sales at the current pace of sales, against 2.6 months in May.

The median home sale price on the other hand had climbed by 13.4% versus a year ago to $416,000 with prices having headed higher across all regions.

"Finally, there are more homes on the market," Yun added.

"Interestingly though, the record-low pace of days on market implies a fuzzier picture on home prices. Homes priced right are selling very quickly, but homes priced too high are deterring prospective buyers."

For his part, Ian Shepherdson, chief economist at Pantheon Macroeconomics, said: "Sales continue to track the steep decline in mortgage applications since the turn of the year, falling at a 38% annualized rate in Q2, and the bottom likely is still some way off. This is a rollover, not a softening.

"Soaring rates have severely curtailed potential buyers’ spending power, and consumers’ confidence has been hammered by the surge in gas prices and the correction in the stock market."