Sales of Existing Homes Down in June

The article from Market Watch gives the current status of the real estate market. The information continues to indicate a market that is slowing with no indication of where the bottom may be.

Sales of U.S. existing homes dropped 3.8% in June to a seasonally adjusted, annualized rate of 5.75 million units, the lowest sales pace in nearly five years, even as frustrated sellers pulled their homes off the market by the thousands.

Sales of single-family homes plunged at a 30% annual rate in the second quarter, 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.

Even with a significant 4.2% drop in the number of homes for sale, the supply remained at a 15-year high at 8.8 months' worth of sales.

"The numbers were not terribly surprising, but they were somewhat disturbing, " said Mike Schenk, senior economist for the Credit Union National Association. "The slump in housing will be longer and deeper than advertised."

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.

June's sales fell in all four regions, dropping 7.3% in the Northeast, 6.8% in the West, 2.8% in the Midwest and 1.7% in the South, according to the NAR's data.

Sales of single-family homes dropped 3.5% to a 5.01 million annual pace, the lowest since September 2002. Condo sales fell 6.3% to 740,000 annualized.