Existing home sales were down 18.1% (not seasonally adjusted) year-over-year in July as a growing number of sellers opted not to list their properties and refinance their mortgages at today’s inflated rate. Local markets like Santa Clara, Las Vegas, and Sacramento saw some of the biggest annual declines in active inventory, and the Vegas market also saw the largest drop in new listings with 44.8% fewer homes available in July 2023 than a year earlier, Bill McBride reports in the CalculatedRisk Newsletter.
The big story for July existing home sales was the large year-over-year (YoY) decline in sales. Also new listings were down sharply YoY and active listings are now down YoY.
Note that closed sales in July were mostly for contracts signed in May and June. Mortgage rates, according to the Freddie Mac PMMS, averaged around 6.4% in May and 6.7% in June. August sales will be mostly for contracts signed in June and July, mortgage rates averaged 6.8% in July, so seasonally adjusted closed sales will likely be less in August compared to July.
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