Sales of previously owned U.S. homes fell in June, weighed down by persistently high mortgage rates, leaving the housing market in a multi-year slump.
Process content
The number of contracts fell 2.4% last month to an annualized rate of 4.09 million, according to data released Thursday by the National Association of Realtors. That lagged behind the average estimate of 4.2 million from economists surveyed by Bloomberg.
“The back-and-forth in monthly home sales, driven by mild swings in mortgage rates, shows how sensitive homebuyers are to affordability conditions,” NAR chief economist Lawrence Yun said in a statement. But recent job growth will continue to support the housing market, he added.
READ MORE:
The drop in sales is undermining some of the recent momentum in the U.S. home resale market. Both existing home sales and contract signings, which occur a month or two ahead of closings, have been on the rise in recent months. However, with mortgage rates frozen at nearly 6.6%, affordability remains a key challenge for Americans looking to buy.
NAR’s Housing Affordability Index, which measures whether typical families can qualify for a mortgage for a median-priced home, has improved slightly from a year ago but is at its lowest level since August 2025.
Last month, the median sales price of a previously owned home rose 1.8% from a year ago to a record high of $440,600, NAR data shows. While prices continue to rise, progress is much smaller than the gains of a few years ago.
Meanwhile, the stock of existing homes for sale rose 1.3% from a year earlier to 1.56 million. However, compared to a month earlier, it fell slightly for the first time this year. Yun called the annual profit “minuscule.”
READ MORE:
“We need to see 30%, 40%,” he said on a call with reporters. “We don’t see that.”
Weakness in the US South, the country’s largest home sales region, helped drag down national results, with sales there falling 3.6% to 1.89 million year-on-year. Sales also fell in the Midwest and West, although they rose in the Northeast.
Start-ups accounted for 33% of sales in June, compared to 35% in May.