(RTTNews) – Existing home sales in the U.S. unexpectedly pulled back sharply in the month of June, according to a report released by the National Association of Realtors on Thursday.
NAR said existing home sales tumbled by 2.4 percent to an annual rate of 4.09 million in June after surging by 3.7 percent to an upwardly revised rate of 4.19 million in May.
Economists had expected existing home sales to increase by 0.7 percent to an annual rate of 4.20 million from the 4.17 million originally reported for the previous month.
“The back-and-forth in monthly home sales activity, driven by mild fluctuations in mortgage rates, shows how sensitive home buyers are to affordability conditions,” said NAR Chief Economist Lawrence Yun.
He added, “However, job gains—more than half a million since the beginning of the year—will continue to provide support for the housing market.”
The unexpected pullback by existing home sales partly reflected weakness in the South and Midwest, where existing home sales plunged by 3.6 percent and 3.0 percent, respectively.
Existing home sales in the West also slumped by 1.3 percent during the month, while existing home sales in the Northeast shot up by 2.1 percent.
The report also said housing inventory at the end of June totaled 1.56 million units, down 0.6 percent from 1.57 million units in May but up 1.3 percent from 1.54 million units a year ago.
The unsold inventory represents 4.6 months of supply at the current sales pace, up from 4.5 months in May and unchanged from June 2025.
NAR also said the median existing home price was $440,600 in June, up 2.2 percent from $431,200 in May and up 1.8 percent from $432,700 in the same month a year ago.
“The median home price has reached an all-time high. Even so, affordability is better than a year ago because wage growth is outpacing home price growth,” Yun said. “However, progress on long-term housing affordability could be hampered if inventory growth continues to stall.”
“Without consistent gains in inventory, home prices can accelerate,” he added. “It is critical to introduce more supply to the market to widen the opportunity for homeownership.”
