Aug 22, 2020 - Economy

Existing U.S. home sales reached another record high last month

Orion Rummler

A man stands in the doorway to his house — In July, Anil Lilly tours his new home, in Washingtonville, N.Y. Photo: John Minchillo/AP

Existing-home sales jumped by 24.7% in July, the National Association of Realtors reported Saturday.

Why it matters: July's surge beats last month's record as the largest recorded monthly increase in previously owned home sales since 1968, when NAR began collecting data.

What they're saying: “The housing market is well past the recovery phase and is now booming with higher home sales compared to the pre-pandemic days,” Lawrence Yun, NAR’s chief economist, said in a press release.

“With the sizable shift in remote work, current homeowners are looking for larger homes and this will lead to a secondary level of demand even into 2021.”
“The number of new listings is increasing, but they are quickly taken out of the market from heavy buyer competition,” Yun said. “More homes need to be built.”

Details: The national median home price breached $300,000 for the first time in July, NAR said, and total housing inventory has decreased 2.6% since June.

Sales jumped in all regions, but saw the most dramatic increase in the Northeast and the West.

What to watch, per the Wall Street Journal: "Buyers are ready to move farther from cities, now that many workers aren’t commuting every day."

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Existing U.S. home sales reached another record high last month

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