(TND) — Real estate prices remain high while real estate sales remain “sluggish.”
The National Association of Realtors said this week that monthly existing home sales improved in July, but sales volume was still down 2.5% compared to last summer.
July ended a streak of four consecutive months of lower sales volume, but the real estate market remained under pressure from high prices and mortgage rates.
According to NAR, the median sales price for existing homes increased in July for the 13th consecutive month compared to a year ago.
The typical home price is currently $422,600 – up about 4% from last year, 16% over the last three years, and 50% over the last five years.
According to historical NAR data, a typical home would have cost $280,400 in July 2019.
“Despite the modest increase, home sales are still sluggish,” NAR chief economist Lawrence Yun said in a news release Thursday. “But consumers are definitely seeing more choices and affordability is improving due to lower interest rates.”
According to Freddie Mac, mortgage rates fell sharply earlier this month and are now just under 6.5 percent.
The interest rate on a typical 30-year fixed-rate mortgage was as high as 7.79% last year.
But Freddie Mac said this week that it expects interest rates to decline slightly by the end of the year.
According to NAR, total registered housing inventory at the end of July was 1.33 million units, up 0.8 percent from June and 19.8 percent from a year earlier.
The inventory of unsold goods currently lasts for four months.
A six-month supply of homes is typically considered a balanced market, with higher supply favoring buyers, Bankrate housing expert Jeff Ostrowski previously told The National Desk.
“By any historical definition, I would say we are still in a pretty strong seller’s market,” Ostrowski said last month.
The median existing home price in the Northeast was $505,100 in July, up 8.3% from a year ago.
In the Midwest, prices reached $321,300, up 4.5% from July 2023.
In the South, a typical home currently costs $372,500, up 2.3% from a year ago.
In the West, median existing home prices reached $629,500, up 3.4% from last July.
