The real estate market continues to favor sellers rather than buyers. Existing home sales increased by 2% from June to July, with a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 5.99 million. According to data from the National Association of Realtors (NAR) on Monday.
Home sales in July increased by 1.5% over the same period last year, while the median sales price of existing homes rose by 17.8%.
The residential real estate market, which has seen its biggest boom since 2006, seems to be showing signs of slowing down. The annual price increase last month was even greater, and the comparison is expected to be smaller.
Sales may be due to an increase in housing inventory, reaching 1.32 million units, a decrease of 12% from a year ago. Despite the increase in supply, demand has pushed prices up to the highest level ever.
Lawrence Yun, NAR’s chief economist, said there are more homes for sale now than in May and June.
“During the COVID lockdown, the real estate market has experienced huge volatility. Once the economy reopens, now the industry seems to be stabilizing,” Yun said at a press conference announcing the new data on Monday.
“It’s still a very fast, rapidly changing market, but there are signs that the market is not as intense as it used to be.”
Existing home sales in July increased by 2% month-on-month, and inventory increased from 2.5 months of supply to 2.6 months. The number of days to market remains unchanged at 17 days, and 89% of the houses sold in July 2021 have been on the market less than a month. It is still a very strong seller’s market. pic.twitter.com/LtgJQGiZjC
— Odeta Kushi (@odetakushi) August 23, 2021
The real estate market is still highly competitive. Houses spend an average of 17 days on the market.
First-time home buyers account for 30% of home sales, while they usually account for 40%, and a quarter of home buyers pay in cash.
According to the Mortgage Bankers Association, compared with May and June, mortgage interest rates remained basically unchanged, and mortgage applications continued to slow down.
Realtor.com chief economist Danielle Hale (Danielle Hale) said that economic recovery is critical to sales momentum, and if mortgage rates remain low, home sales should increase steadily in the coming months.
Forecasts by Freddie Mac, Fannie Mae, MBA and NAR indicate that mortgage interest rates will remain low and are expected to continue until 2022. pic.twitter.com/fbbZO0rQoT
— TheMLS.com (@TheMLSofChoice) August 18, 2021
