Existing-home sales were down again in June as the median sales price climbed to the highest price ever recorded for the second consecutive month, according to the latest data released Tuesday from the National Association of REALTORS®. The median existing-home price for all housing types in June was $426,900, up from $419,300 last month and an all-time high and increase of 4.1% from one year ago ($410,100). All four U.S. regions registered price gains, NAR data showed.
Home sales in all the four major U.S. regions, however, posted sales declines over the previous month, and year-over-year, sales waned in the Northeast, Midwest and South but were unchanged in the West, NAR stated.
The report showed that total existing-home sales–completed transactions that include single-family homes, townhomes, condominiums and co-ops–receded 5.4% from May to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 3.89 million in June. Year-over-year, sales also dropped 5.4% (down from 4.11 million in June 2023).
“We’re seeing a slow shift from a seller’s market to a buyer’s market,” said NAR Chief Economist Lawrence Yun. “Homes are sitting on the market a bit longer, and sellers are receiving fewer offers. More buyers are insisting on home inspections and appraisals, and inventory is definitively rising on a national basis.”
Total housing inventory registered at the end of June was 1.32 million units, up 3.1% from May and 23.4% from one year ago (1.07 million), NAR said. Unsold inventory sits at a 4.1-month supply at the current sales pace, up from 3.7 months in May and 3.1 months in June 2023. The last time unsold inventory posted a four-month supply was May 2020 (4.5 months).
“Even as the median home price reached a new record high, further large accelerations are unlikely,” Yun added. “Supply and demand dynamics are nearing a balanced market condition. The months supply of inventory reached its highest level in more than four years.”
Realtor.com Chief Economist Danielle Hale, commented, “Although mortgage rates crested in early May, topping out at 7.22%, they remained above 7% for the better part of the month–when many June homebuyers would have needed to lock in a mortgage rate. Combined with still high and climbing home prices, elevated costs meant that fewer buyers were able to get to the closing table in June.”
However, she added, “Homebuying is likely to remain a cornerstone of the American dream…an increase in new home construction, which would boost supply, and a reduction in the cost of borrowing, which we’ve started to see and expect to continue, should help improve conditions for buyers and thus the number of home sale transactions in the months ahead.”
According to NAR’s monthly REALTORS® Confidence Index, properties typically remained on the market for 22 days in June, down from 24 days in May but up from 18 days in June 2023.
First-time buyers were responsible for 29% of sales in June, down from 31% in May but up from 27% in June 2023. NAR’s 2023 Profile of Home Buyers and Sellers–released in November 2023–found that the annual share of first-time buyers was 32%. All-cash sales accounted for 28% of transactions in June, unchanged from May and up from 26% one year ago.
Individual investors or second-home buyers, who make up many cash sales, purchased 16% of homes in June, identical to May and down from 18% in June 2023, NAR reported. Distressed sales–foreclosures and short sales–represented 2% of sales in June, unchanged from last month and the previous year.
Also, single-family home sales retracted to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 3.52 million in June, down 5.1% from 3.71 million in May and 4.3% from the prior year. The median existing single-family home price was $432,700 in June, up 4.1% from June 2023, according to the data. Condominium and co-op sales tumbled 7.5% in June to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 370,000 units, down 14% from one year ago (430,000 units). The median existing condo price was $371,700 in June, up 2.6% from the previous year ($362,200).
Regional breakdown
The latest data shows existing-home sales in the Northeast in June withdrew 2.1% from May to an annual rate of 470,000, a decline of 6% from June 2023. The median price in the Northeast was $521,500, up 9.7% from one year earlier.
In the Midwest, existing-home sales decreased 8% from one month ago to an annual rate of 920,000 in June, down 6.1% from the prior year. The median price in the Midwest was $327,100, up 5.5% from June 2023.
Existing-home sales in the South slid 5.9% from May to an annual rate of 1.76 million in June, down 6.9% from one year before. The median price in the South was $373,000, up 1.7% from last year.
In the West, existing-home sales declined 2.6% in June to an annual rate of 740,000, identical to a year ago. The median price in the West was $629,800, up 3.5% from June 2023.
To view the full report, click here.
