5.39 Million: Existing Home Sales Shoot Up in July

• August 21st 2013

by UrbanTurf Staff

Existing home sales shot up in July, according to a report out Wednesday from the National Association of Realtors. Sales rose to a seasonally adjusted rate of 5.39 million last month from 5.06 million in June. The July sales represent a 17.2 percent increase over July 2012. If you were to exclude distressed property sales, the year-over-year increase would be more in the range of 31 percent.

A number of reasons are being thrown out for the increase in sales, but the strongest is a push by buyers to close on their new home before interest rates go any higher.

From NAR’s Lawrence Yun:

“Mortgage interest rates are at the highest level in two years, pushing some buyers off the sidelines,” he said. “The initial rise in interest rates provided strong incentive for closing deals. However, further rate increases will diminish the pool of eligible buyers.”

While the news of sales is today’s headline, one of the biggest takeaways from the report relates to inventory. Total housing inventory rose to 2.28 million homes in July, a 5.6 percent month-over-month increase. It was the sixth month in a row that inventory rose, a sign that sellers are getting off the sidelines and that the market may be tipping back in favor of the buyer.

This article originally published at https://dc.urbanturf.com/articles/blog/existing_home_sales_shoot_up_in_july/7485.