US Existing Home Sales continue to slide

US existing home sales continued to slide reaching a five year annual low of 5.75 million units in June.

Sales of single-family homes plunged at a 30% annual rate in the 2Q07, the steepest decline in 28 years, the National Association of Realtors said Wednesday. Sales of single-family homes were down 12% in June compared with a year earlier.

Inventories of unsold homes on the market fell by 180,000, or 4.2%, to 4.20 million, representing an 8.8-month supply at the June sales rate. Despite the drop in inventories, supply remains at 15-year highs.

Optimists may have gained some encouragement from the first year-over-year increase in the median sales price which inched 0.3% higher compared with a year ago. However one month does not make a trend. Expect house prices to resume their downward slide in coming months.
For the full NAR report click here.

The Commerce Department will report data on new-home sales for June on today.