Existing Home Sales fell 0.7% from July to August to a 4.04-million-unit annualized pace, per the National Association of REALTORS® (NAR). Sales were also 15.3% lower than they were in August of last year. This report measures closings on existing homes, which represent a large portion of the market, making it a critical gauge for taking the pulse of the housing sector.         

What’s the bottom line? Record low inventory and elevated mortgage rates remain key constraints on home sales. There were 1.1 million homes available for sale at the end of August, down from 1.28 million a year earlier and nearly half the levels seen in 2019. Plus, inventory is even tighter than that figure implies, as many homes counted in existing inventory are under contract and not truly available for purchase. In fact, there were only 669,000 “active listings” at the end of last month.

Yet, homes continue to sell quickly (averaging just 20 days on the market) and NAR’s Chief Economist Lawrence Yun noted that “home prices continue to march higher despite lower home sales.” He added that “supply needs to essentially double to moderate home price gains."