Existing-home sales rose by a record 24.7% in July to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 5.86 million, according to the National Association of Realtors (NAR). Sales rose year-over-year, up 8.7% from July 2019 (5.39 million).
Lawrence Yun, NAR’s chief economist, states that home sales are now higher than in pre-pandemic days and more homes will need to be built to keep up with buyers. “The housing market is well past the recovery phase and is now booming with higher home sales compared to the pre-pandemic days, 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.”
The total housing inventory was 1.50 million units, down 2.6% from June and 21.1% from a year ago (1.9 million). The median home price was $304,100, up 8.5% from July 2019. This increase marks 101 straight months of year-over-year gains. For the first time ever, national median home prices breached the $300,000 level.
Distressed sales were 1% of the total, down from 3% in June but up from 2% in July 2019.
Read the NAR release.
