US existing home sales fell 2.4% in June to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 4.09 million units, according to the National Association of Realtors (NAR) data released in early July [1, 2, 3]. Despite the monthly decline, sales were up 2.8% from a year earlier [1, 2]. The slowdown was driven by elevated mortgage rates, which remained around 6.6%, about 45 basis points higher than levels before the Middle East conflict, discouraging both buyers and sellers [1, 2, 3].
The median price for an existing home rose 1.8% year-over-year in June to a record-high $440,600 [1, 4, 2, 3]. Lawrence Yun, NAR's chief economist, noted the impact of affordability, saying, "The back-and-forth in monthly home sales activity, driven by mild fluctuations in mortgage rates, shows how sensitive home buyers are to affordability conditions" [1].
Inventory of existing homes dropped 0.6% month-over-month to 1.56 million units but was still 1.3% higher than June 2025, representing a 4.6-month supply at the current sales pace—unchanged from last year. Yun warned that without significant inventory growth, home prices could continue to accelerate. "Progress on long-term housing affordability could be hampered if inventory growth continues to stall… It is critical to introduce more supply to the market to widen the opportunity for homeownership," he said [1, 2, 3].
Sales rose in the Northeast but declined across the Midwest, South, and West regions in June [1, 2, 3]. First-time homebuyers accounted for about 33% of sales, up from 30% a year ago, suggesting some sustained activity among new entrants to the market [1, 2, 3].
Separate data from early July showed the US labor market remained steady, with initial jobless claims falling slightly to 215,000, while continuing claims rose to 1.814 million [4]. Yun also commented, "Job gains—more than half a million since the beginning of the year—will continue to provide support for the housing market" [2].
Meanwhile, the US Congress recently passed a bipartisan housing affordability bill that includes limits on single-family homeownership by investment firms and aims to speed up environmental reviews, but President Donald Trump has withheld his signature pending passage of a separate voting bill [1].
