WASHINGTON– Sales of existing homes in the United States continued to fall in June, even more than expected, although prices continued to buck the trend and reached new records, according to data published on Tuesday by the National Federation of Realtors (NAR).
Last month, 3.89 million homes and apartments changed hands at an annualized rate, a projection of sales over the year if conditions at the time of measurement hold. This represents a 5.4% drop compared with May.
The drop was much steeper than expected, as analysts had anticipated 4 million transactions at an annualized rate, according to the consensus published by briefing.com.
“Homes are sitting on the market longer and sellers are receiving fewer offers. Buyers want to take their time and wait for better prices,” Lawrence Yun, NAR’s chief economist, was quoted as saying in a statement.
Meanwhile, median prices rose again, reaching a new record of $426,900, 4.1% more than a year ago.
However, “demand and inventory (of properties) are approaching balanced market conditions,” Yun said.
Especially since, although mortgage interest rates are beginning to fall slightly in anticipation of a future rate cut by the Federal Reserve (Fed, the US central bank), expected in September, they are still at levels higher than those observed in the first decades of the 21st century.
According to data from the Freddie Mac refinancing agency, 30-year fixed-rate mortgages, the most common in the United States, are at a rate of 6.77%, and are expected to continue falling.
The number of properties for sale on the market also increased by 3.1% compared to May, and by an even 23.4% compared to June 2023, reaching 1.32 million available homes, or 4.1 months of sales at the current rate. This is the first time this figure has exceeded four months since May 2020.
Source: With information from AFP.
