U.S. Existing Home Sales Dip Much Less Than Expected In August

(RTTNews) - Existing home sales in the U.S. saw a modest pullback in the month of August, according to a report released by the National Association of Realtors on Thursday.

NAR said existing home sales dipped by 0.2 percent to an annual rate of 4.00 million in August after jumping by 2.0 percent to an annual rate of 4.01 million in July. Economists had expected existing home sales to slump by 1.3 percent to an annual rate of 3.96 million.

The modest decrease by existing home sales partly reflected weakness in the Northeast, where existing home sales plunged by 4.0 percent.

Existing home sales in the South also slid by 1.1 percent, while existing home sales in the West and Midwest jumped by 1.4 percent and 2.1 percent, respectively.

"Home sales have been sluggish over the past few years due to elevated mortgage rates and limited inventory," said NAR Chief Economist Lawrence Yun. "However, mortgage rates are declining and more inventory is coming to the market, which should boost sales in the coming months."

The report said housing inventory at the end of August totaled 1.53 million units, down 1.3 percent from 1.55 million units in July but up 11.7 percent from 1.37 million units a year ago.

The unsold inventory represents 4.6 months of supply at the current sales pace, unchanged from July and up from 4.2 months in August 2024.

NAR also said the median existing home price fell 0.7 percent to $422,600 in August from $425,700 in July but jumped by 2.0 percent compared to $414,200 in the same month last year.

"Record-high housing wealth and a record-high stock market will help current homeowners trade up and benefit the upper end of the market," Yun said. "However, sales of affordable homes are constrained by the lack of inventory."

A separate report released by the Commerce Department on Wednesday showed new home sales in the U.S. unexpectedly skyrocketed to their highest level in well over three years in the month of August.

The Commerce Department said new home sales soared by 20.5 percent to an annual rate of 800,000 in August after slumping by 1.8 percent to a revised rate of 664,000 in July.

Economists had expected new home sales to slip by 0.3 percent to an annual rate of 650,000 from the 652,000 originally reported for the previous month.

With the unexpected spike, housing starts leapt to their highest level since hitting an annual rate of 807,000 in January 2022.