Housing's sad song continues its doleful melody, as existing-home sales slumped 2.6% in June to a seasonally-adjusted annual rate of 4.86 million units, or 15.5% lower than a year ago, according to the National Association of Realtors.
Total housing inventory at the end of June-including single-family, townhomes, condominiums and co-ops-rose 0.2% to 4.49 million units. That's an 11.1-month supply of unsold homes, up from the 10.8-month supply in May. The national median existing-home price was $215,100 in June, down 6.1% from a year ago.
Lawrence Yun, NAR chief economist, said there's a downward distortion in the price data. "With short sales and foreclosures accounting for approximately one-third of transactions, it's hard to make an apples-to-apples comparison with a year ago when they were only a minor portion of the market."
On a regional basis, existing-home sales in the West rose 1.0% in June to an annual rate of 1.03 million; that's 6.4% less than a year ago. The median price of $288,400 dropped 17.2% below last year.
In the South, existing-home sales fell 3.1% to an annual rate of 1.85 million in June, or 18.1% below last year. The median price of $185,300 was a 2.4% decline.
Existing-home sales in the Midwest declined 3.4% to an annual pace of 1.12 million; a 17.6% plunge from a year ago. But the median price increased 2.8%, to $175,300.
In the Northeast, existing-home sales fell 6.6% to an annual rate of 850,000 in June, which was 15.8% lessthan last year. The median price declined 12.6%, to $256,700.
As for the good news, existing-home sales jumped significantly from a year ago in Bakersfield, Calif., Fort Myers, Fla. and Las Vegas. And Yun said sales are gaining steam in Orlando, Fla., Phoenix and Oakland, Calif.