Existing Home Sales Fall For 7th Straight Month

Sales of existing homes dropped for the seventh straight month in August as rising mortgage rates have put pressure on both sellers and buyers.

The National Association of Realtors said on Wednesday that existing home sales dropped 0.4 percent to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 4.8 million in August.

Despite the decline, the number of sales was higher than all the estimates of economists polled by Econoday. The median estimate was a rate of 4.8 million.

“The housing sector is the most sensitive to and experiences the most immediate impacts from the Federal Reserve’s interest rate policy changes,” said NAR Chief Economist Lawrence Yun. “The softness in home sales reflects this year’s escalating mortgage rates. Nonetheless, homeowners are doing well with near nonexistent distressed property sales and home prices still higher than a year ago.”

Total housing inventory of homes on the market at the end of August was 1,280,000 units, a decline of 1.5 percent from July and unchanged from the previous year. Unsold inventory sits at a 3.2-month supply at the current sales pace, which the NAR said was identical to July and up from 2.6 months in August 2021.

“Inventory will remain tight in the coming months and even for the next couple of years,” Yun said. “Some homeowners are unwilling to trade up or trade down after locking in historically-low mortgage rates in recent years, increasing the need for more new-home construction to boost supply.”