MNI: US June Existing Home Sales See 3.3% Slump To 4.16M SAAR

U.S. existing home sales retreated 3.3% in June to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 4.16 million while prices continued to climb, the National Association of Realtors said Thursday.

Sales are down 18.9% from a year ago and were down 23% in the first half of 2023. Yet the median existing-home sales price for June was the second-highest price ever recorded – since January 1999 when NAR began tracking the data – at USD410,200. It was the third time the monthly median sales price eclipsed USD400,000, joining June 2022 and May 2022.

The inventory of unsold existing homes was unchanged from the previous month at 1.08 million, or the equivalent of 3.1 months’ supply at the current monthly sales pace. Around one third of properties were sold above list price as buyers compete for limited inventory, NAR chief economist Lawrence Yun said.

“There are simply not enough homes for sale,” Yun said. “The market can easily absorb a doubling of inventory.”