US existing home sales dip as affordability concerns linger

[WASHINGTON] Sales of previously owned US homes slipped back in June, dragged down by stubbornly high mortgage rates that have kept the housing market stuck in a years long slump.

Contract closings fell 2.4 per cent to an annualised rate of 4.09 million last month, data released on Thursday (Jul 9) by the National Association of Realtors (NAR) show. That fell short of the 4.2 million median estimate of economists surveyed by Bloomberg. 

“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,” NAR chief economist Lawrence Yun said in a statement. But recent job gains will continue to provide support to the housing market, he added. 

The step-down in sales saps some of the recent momentum seen in the US home resale market. Both existing home sales and contract signings, which take place a month or two earlier than closings, had been trending up in recent months. However, with mortgage rates frozen near 6.6 per cent, affordability remains a key challenge for Americans hoping to buy. 

NAR’s Housing Affordability Index, which measures whether typical families can qualify for a mortgage for a median-priced home, has improved somewhat from a year ago but is at its lowest since August 2025.

Last month, the median sales price of a previously owned home rose 1.8 per cent from a year ago to a record high of US$440,600, NAR data show. While prices continue to climb, the advance is far smaller than the gains seen a couple of years ago. 

Meantime, the inventory of existing homes for sale climbed 1.3 per cent from a year earlier to 1.56 million. From a month earlier, however, it fell slightly for the first time this year. Yun called the annual gain “minuscule.” 

“We need to see 30 per cent, 40 per cent,” he said. “We’re not seeing that.”

Weakness in the US South, the nation’s biggest home-selling region, helped drag down the national results, with sales there declining 3.6 per cent to an annualised 1.89 million. Sales also slipped in the Midwest and West, though they gained in the Northeast. 

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First-time buyers accounted for 33 per cent of sales in June, compared with 35 per cent in May. BLOOMBERG