U.S. Existing Home Sales Decline Sharply in June
by:Tom Moeller
|in:Economy in Brief
Summary
• Sales fall to five-month low. • Purchases are mixed throughout country. • Home prices continue to strengthen.
Sales of existing homes posted a 3.3% decline (-18.9% y/y) to 4.160 million (SAAR) from an unrevised 4.30 million in May. Sales remained up from the January low of 4.00 million. The Action Economics Forecast Survey expected June sales of 4.20 million units.
Single-family home sales fell 3.4% (-18.8% y/y) to 3.72 million units after easing 0.3% to 3.85 million in May. Sales remained 36.4% lower than the high of 5.85 million in October 2020. Condo and co-op sales weakened 2.2% (-20.0% y/y) to 440,000 after rising 4.7% in May. Sales have fallen 41.3% from the January 2021 high of 750,000.
Sales were mixed m/m across the country. Sales in the South declined 5.4% (-16.2% y/y) to 1.91 million last month following a 1.5% May rise. Sales in the West declined 5.1% (-22.7 % y/y) to 750,000 after rising 2.6% in the prior month. Improving by 2.0% (-21.5% y/y) to 510,000 were sales in the Northeast after falling 2.0% In May. Sales in the Midwest held steady (-19.5% y/y) at 990,000 after a 2.9% May decline.
The number of existing homes for sale held steady (-13.6% y/y) at 1.08 million in June after rising 3.8% in May. The supply of homes on the market (NSA) rose slightly to 3.1 months at the current selling rate, significantly higher than the record low of 1.6 months reached in January, 2022. These figures date back to January 1999.
The median price of an existing home (NSA) improved 3.5% (-0.9% y/y) to $410,200 following a 2.7% May increase. They were 0.9% below the June 2022 peak of $413,800. Prices rose last month in each region of the country. The median price of an existing single-family home rose 3.6% (-1.2% y/y) to $416,000 after rising 2.9% in May. The median price for condos & co-ops increased 2.3% (1.9% y/y) to $361,000 after rising 1.9% in May.
The data on existing home sales, prices and affordability are compiled by the National Association of Realtors. The data on single-family home sales extend back to February 1968. Total sales and price data and regional sales can be found in Haver's USECON database. Regional price and affordability data and national inventory data are available in the REALTOR database. The expectations figure is from the Action Economics Forecast Survey, reported in the AS1REPNA database.
Tom Moeller
AuthorMore in Author Profile »Prior to joining Haver Analytics in 2000, Mr. Moeller worked as the Economist at Chancellor Capital Management from 1985 to 1999. There, he developed comprehensive economic forecasts and interpreted economic data for equity and fixed income portfolio managers. Also at Chancellor, Mr. Moeller worked as an equity analyst and was responsible for researching and rating companies in the economically sensitive automobile and housing industries for investment in Chancellor’s equity portfolio. Prior to joining Chancellor, Mr. Moeller was an Economist at Citibank from 1979 to 1984. He also analyzed pricing behavior in the metals industry for the Council on Wage and Price Stability in Washington, D.C. In 1999, Mr. Moeller received the award for most accurate forecast from the Forecasters' Club of New York. From 1990 to 1992 he was President of the New York Association for Business Economists. Mr. Moeller earned an M.B.A. in Finance from Fordham University, where he graduated in 1987. He holds a Bachelor of Arts in Economics from George Washington University.
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