Existing home sales south of the border took a spill during August, according to figures released out of Washington Wednesday.
The National Association of Realtors' monthly report on Wednesday showed existing home sales slumped by 1.7% to an annual rate of 5.35 million in August after tumbling by 1.3% to a rate of 5.44 million in July.
The continued decrease surprised economists, who had expected existing home sales to edge up to an annual rate of 5.46 million.
With the unexpected decrease, existing home sales fell to their lowest annual rate since hitting 5.34 million last August.
NAR also said total housing inventory declined by 2.1% to 1.88 million existing homes available for sale at the end of August. Housing inventory is down by 6.5% compared to the same month a year ago.
The report also said the median existing home price in August was $253,500, down 1.8% from $258,100 in July but up 5.6% from $240,000 in August of last year.
