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The nation's housing slump deepened in June as sales of previously occupied homes slowed to their slowest pace since December, hampered by elevated mortgage rates and record-high prices.
Sales of previously occupied U.S. homes fell 5.4% last month from May to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 3.89 million, the fourth consecutive month of declines, the National Association of REALTORS® said Tuesday.
Existing home sales were also down 5.4% compared with June of last year.
Despite the pullback in sales, home prices climbed compared with a year earlier for the 12th month in a row. The national median sales price rose 4.1% from a year earlier to $426,900, an all-time high with records going back to 1999.
Home prices rose even as sales slowed and the supply of properties on the market climbed to its highest level since May 2020.
"Right now we're seeing increased inventory, but we're not seeing increased sales yet," said Lawrence Yun, the NAR's chief economist.
All told, there were about 1.32 million unsold homes at the end of last month, an increase of 3.1% from May and up 23% from June last year, NAR said.
That translates to a 4.1-month supply at the current sales pace. Traditionally, a 4- to 5-month supply is considered a balanced market between buyers and sellers.
While still below pre-pandemic levels, the recent increase in homes for sale suggests that, despite record-high home prices, the housing market may be tipping in favor of homebuyers.
"The latest data is implying that maybe we're seeing a slow shift away from what had been a sellers' market and slowly moving into a buyers' market," Yun said.