Property sales, excluding new homes, fell in June for the third month in a row in the United States but with regional differences, the latest index shows.
Declines in the South and West exceeded sales gains in the Northeast and Midwest, according to the data from the National Association of Realtors. Meanwhile, the ongoing supply and demand imbalance helped push June’s median sales price to a new all-time high.
Sales fell by 0.6% and are now 2.2% below where they were in June 2017, having fallen on an annual basis for four consecutive months while prices increased by 5.2% year on year to $276,900. Values have now increased year on year for 76 months in a row.
The root cause of the fall in sales is the shortage of homes for sale, according to Lawrence Yun, NAR chief economist. ‘What is for sale in most areas is going under contract very fast and in many cases, has multiple offers. This dynamic is keeping home price growth elevated, pricing out would-be buyers and ultimately slowing sales,’ he said.
A breakdown of the figures show that sales increased by 5.9% in the but are still 4% below a year ago with a median price of $305,900, up 3.3% from June 2017 while in the Midwest sales edged up 0.8% but are 3.1% below a year ago with a median price of $218,800, up 3.5% from a year ago.
Sales in the South decreased 2.2% but are still 0.4% higher than a year ago with a median price of $237,500, up 2.7% year on year and in the West sales fell by 2.6 and are now 5% below a year ago with a median price of $417,400, up 10.2% from June 2017.