MNI: US June Existing Home Sales -2.7%, Slowest Since Sept

U.S. sales of existing homes fell 2.7% in June to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 3.93 million, the National Association of Realtors said Wednesday, below market expectations and the slowest since September. Sales year-over-year were flat. 

"Housing demand in other words at the current pace is really not picking up," NAR chief economist Lawrence Yun told reporters. “High mortgage rates are causing home sales to remain stuck at cyclical lows. If the average mortgage rates were to decline to 6%, our scenario analysis suggests an additional half a million sales overall." The average 30-year fixed-rate mortgage stands at 6.75%. (See: MNI INTERVIEW: Fed Seen Cutting Twice This Year - English)

The median existing-home sales price has increased 2% over the year to USD435,300, the highest ever. Yun told reporters that home prices tend to be higher in the month of June, when families with school age children aim to sell and move before the start of the school year begins.

There was a 0.6% decline in unsold inventory month-over-month to 1.53 million units, equal to 4.7 months’ supply. Twenty-nine percent of transactions were cash sales in June, up from 27% in May and the pre-Covid average of about 20%, according to Yun.