WASHINGTON — Existing home sales fell by a record 27.2% in July to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 3.83 million units, representing a 12.5 month inventory of units, another record, the National Association of Realtors reported Tuesday.
The 3.83 million unit-rate is the lowest sales pace since 1995 while the 12.5 month inventory of existing home sales is the largest since at least 1999 when NAR altered the way it compiled housing statistics. The last time inventories approached July’s levels was in 1982, when inventory of single-family homes reached 13.8 months.
Lawrence Yun, the NAR’s chief economist, said he expected a slow sales pace for a few additional months and noted that July typically is a peak inventory month.
Economists polled by Thomson Reuters expected 4.70 million existing home sales.
June sales were downwardly revised to 5.26 million units from an originally reported 5.37 million sales pace.
