US existing home sales post second straight monthly decline in July

US existing home sales post second straight monthly decline in July

Tue, August 11, 2026 at 5:10 PM GMT+3 2 min read

WASHINGTON, Aug 11 (Reuters) - U.S. existing home sales fell for a second straight month in July, and a rebound is likely to be limited by ‌higher mortgage rates and tight supply.

Home sales dropped 1.7% last month to a ‌seasonally adjusted annual rate of 4.06 million units, the National Association of Realtors said on Tuesday. Economists polled ​by Reuters had forecast home resales slipping to a rate of 4.05 million units.

Existing home sales are counted at the closing of a contract. Last month's sales likely reflected contracts signed in May and June when mortgage rates resumed their upward trend after briefly pulling back ‌amid the ongoing conflict in ⁠the Middle East. The average rate on the popular 30-year fixed-rate mortgage has jumped 71 basis points since the war started in February, ⁠data from mortgage financing firm Freddie Mac showed.

It averaged 6.69% last week, the highest level since July 2025. Higher mortgage rates are also discouraging some homeowners from selling, worsening the housing shortage. ​Many ​homeowners have mortgages with fixed rates below 5%.

Home ​sales fell in the Midwest and ‌South. They rose in the Northeast and were unchanged in the West. Sales increased 0.7% on a year-over-year basis in July.

"There's no doubt that the housing market would be thriving if average mortgage rates were to return near 6%," said Lawrence Yun, the NAR's chief economist.

Existing housing inventory decreased 1.9% to 1.54 million units. It was down 0.6% from ‌a year ago. At July's sales pace, it would ​take 4.6 months to exhaust the current inventory ​of existing homes, unchanged from June and ​a year ago.

The median existing home price last month increased 2.0% ‌from a year ago to $434,100. First-time buyers ​accounted for 29% of ​sales, down from 33% in June and slightly up from 28% a year ago. A 40% share in this category is needed for a robust housing market.

The ​median number of days ‌on the market for listed properties edged up to 29 from 28 in ​June and a year ago. Distressed sales, including foreclosures, were unchanged at 2%.

(Reporting ​by Lucia Mutikani; Editing by Andrea Ricci)