Existing home sales dropped 0.4% in August to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 4.80 million, the National Association of Realtors announced. It was the seventh consecutive month of declines in existing home sales. Compared with August 2021, existing home sales were down 19.9%.
“The softness in home sales reflects this year’s escalating mortgage rates,” NAR Chief Economist Lawrence Yun said in a statement. “Nonetheless, homeowners are doing well with near nonexistent distressed property sales and home prices still higher than a year ago.”
The median existing home price jumped 7.7% year-over-year to $389,500.
Regionally, month-over-month existing home sales increased 1.6% in the Northeast and 1.1% in the West, while remaining unchanged in the South. Existing home sales declined 3.3% in the Midwest.
Total housing inventory declined 1.5% from July and was unchanged compared with August 2021.
The full NAR report can be found here.
