NAR: Existing-Home Sales Increased to 4.01 million SAAR in July; Up 0.8% YoY
Median House Prices Increased 0.2% Year-over-Year
From the NAR: NAR Existing-Home Sales Report Shows 2.0% Increase in July
Existing-home sales increased by 2.0% in July, according to the National Association of REALTORS® Existing-Home Sales Report. ...
Month-over-month sales increased in the Northeast, South, and West, and fell in the Midwest. Year-over-year, sales rose in the South, Northeast, and Midwest, and fell in the West. ...
• 2.0% increase in existing-home sales – seasonally adjusted annual rate of 4.01 million in July.
• Year-over-year: 0.8% increase in existing-home sales• 0.2% increase in median existing-home sales price to $422,400.
• 0.6% increase in unsold inventory – 1.55 million units equal to 4.6 months' supply.
emphasis added
The sales rate was slightly above the consensus forecast. This graph shows existing home sales, on a Seasonally Adjusted Annual Rate (SAAR) basis since 1994.
Sales in July (4.01 million SAAR) were up 2.0% from the previous month and were up 0.8% compared to the July 2024 sales rate. Sales have bounced around a 4 million annual sales rate for the last 2 1/2 years.
Housing Inventory Increased Slightly in July
The second graph shows nationwide inventory for existing homes.
According to the NAR, inventory increased to 1.55 million in July from 1.54 million the previous month.
Headline inventory is not seasonally adjusted, and inventory usually decreases to the seasonal lows in December and January, and peaks in mid-to-late summer. The third graph shows the year-over-year (YoY) change in reported existing home inventory and months-of-supply. Since inventory is not seasonally adjusted, it really helps to look at the YoY change. Note: Months-of-supply is based on the seasonally adjusted sales and not seasonally adjusted inventory.
Inventory was up 15.7% year-over-year (blue) in July compared to July 2024. Months of supply (red) decreased to 4.6 months in July from 4.7 months the previous month.
Looking back to pre-pandemic levels, in July 2019 months-of-supply was at 4.2 months, so there is more supply now, on a months-of-supply basis, than prior to the pandemic! Even though inventory is still down compared to 2019, sales have fallen even more - pushing up months-of-supply.
Sales Year-over-Year and Not Seasonally Adjusted (NSA)
The fourth graph shows existing home sales by month for 2024 and 2025.
Sales were up 0.8% year-over-year compared to June 2024. This followed 5 consecutive months with sales either down or unchanged year-over-year. The next two months will also have easy year-over-year comparisons.
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