Global| Aug 23 2005U.S. Existing Home Sales & Prices Moderate Slightly in July
Summary
Existing home sales eased slightly in July, falling 2.6% to 7.16 million units from an upwardly revised 7.35 million in June. Single-family sales alone decreased by 2.3% to 6.24 million and condo and co-op sales by 4.2% to 920,000. [...]
The median price of an existing single-family home increased 0.5% but June's price figure was revised downward, so the July result, at $217,900, is actually lower than the original June price median. Prices are not seasonally adjusted, and they tend to soften a bit as the summer winds down. Even so, the July number is still 14.1% ahead of a year ago, and the escalation should be plainly evident in our second graph.
By region, total sales fell everywhere except in the South, where they were flat with June. The West saw a decrease of 7% in the month to a volume just 0.7% above July 2004. Sales in the Midwest eased 1.4%, making them 1.9% below last July, and those in the Northeast were off 2.3%, but still held a gain of 4.9% from the year earlier amount.
The latest release from the National Association of Realtors is available here.
| Existing Home Sales (000, AR) | July | June | Y/Y | 2004 | 2003 | 2002 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Total Home Sales | 7,160 | 7,350 | 1.3% | 6,723 | 6,170 | 5,653 |
| Single Family Home Sales | 6,220 | 6,390 | 0.5% | 5,913 | 5,441 | 4,995 |
| Single Family Median Home Price ($,000) | $217.9 | $216.7 | 14.6% | $182.8 | $169.1 | $157.6 |
Carol Stone, CBE
AuthorMore in Author Profile »Carol Stone, CBE came to Haver Analytics in 2003 following more than 35 years as a financial market economist at major Wall Street financial institutions, most especially Merrill Lynch and Nomura Securities. She has broad experience in analysis and forecasting of flow-of-funds accounts, the federal budget and Federal Reserve operations. At Nomura Securites, among other duties, she developed various indicator forecasting tools and edited a daily global publication produced in London and New York for readers in Tokyo. At Haver Analytics, Carol is a member of the Research Department, aiding database managers with research and documentation efforts, as well as posting commentary on select economic reports. In addition, she conducts Ways-of-the-World, a blog on economic issues for an Episcopal-Church-affiliated website, The Geranium Farm. During her career, Carol served as an officer of the Money Marketeers and the Downtown Economists Club. She has a PhD from NYU's Stern School of Business. She lives in Brooklyn, New York, and has a weekend home on Long Island.
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