Data released on Thursday by the National Association of Realtors (NAR) showed a decline of 2.7% in existing home sales across the U.S in August. Existing home sales, which include single family, townhomes, condominiums and co-ops declined to a seasonally adjusted rate of 5.10 million, from a level of 5.24 million in July. Data came in below expectations as the market estimated a reading of 5.40 million.
The median price for existing-homes is 12.5% below August 2008 at $177,700.
Total Housing inventory fell 10.8% to 3.62 million, which represents 8.5 month supply vs. 9.4 months in July.
''Home sales retrenched from a very strong improvement in July but continue to be much higher than before the stimulus. The first-time buyer tax credit is having the intended impact of bringing buyers into the market, allowing them to take advantage of very favorable affordability conditions,'' Lawrence Yun, NAR Chief economist said.
''Some of the give-back in closed sales appears to result from rising numbers of contracts entering the system, with some fallouts and a backlog contributing to a longer closing process, but the decline demonstrates we can’t take a housing rebound for granted,'' Lawrence Yun added.
