Existing Home Sales Back on the Rise as Inventories Improve; Rates Recover After Starting Higher

Existing Home Sales Back on the Rise as Inventories Improve; Rates Recover After Starting Higher

Existing homes sales posted the second consecutive increase in July after breaking out of a slump in June that had endured for four months. The National Association of Realtors®, (NAR) said sales of pre-owned single-family houses, town houses, condominiums, and cooperative apartments rose to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 5.99 million units in July, a 2.0 percent increase from the June rate of 5.87 million and 1.5 percent higher than the pace in July 2020. Sales of single-family homes rose 2.7 percent month-over-month to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 5.28 million but were 0.8 percent lower than a year earlier. Condo and co-op sales fell, from a 730,000 rate in June to 710,000 in July, a decline of 2.7 percent. Those sales, however, were 22.4 percent higher year-over-year. The