U.S. existing-home sales jump more than expected in July

The National Association of Realtors (NAR) announced on Friday that the U.S. existing home sales soared 24.7 percent m-o-m to a seasonally adjusted rate of 5.86 million in July from a revised 4.70 million in June (originally 4.72 million). That was the highest monthly increase on record.

Economists had forecast home resales increasing to a 5.38 million-unit pace last month.

In y-o-y terms, however, existing-home sales rose 8.7 percent in July.

According to the report, each of the four major regions attained double-digit m-o-m advances, while the Northeast was the only region to show a y-o-y drop. Single-family home sales stood at 5.28 million in July, up 23.9 percent from 4.26 million in June, and up 9.8 percent from one year ago. The median existing single-family home price was $307,800 in July, up 8.5 percent from July 2019. Meanwhile, existing condominium and co-op sales were recorded at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 580,000 units in July, up 31.8 percent from June and equal to a year ago. The median existing condo price was $270,100 in July, a gain of 6.4 percent from a year ago.

“The housing market is well past the recovery phase and is now booming with higher home sales compared to the pre-pandemic days,” noted Lawrence Yun, NAR’s chief economist. “With the sizable shift in remote work, current homeowners are looking for larger homes and this will lead to a secondary level of demand even into 2021.”