Total existing home sales, including single-family homes, townhomes, condominiums, and co-ops, rebounded at a record pace in June, according to the National Association of Realtors.
Sales rose 20.7% from May to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 4.72 million, and each of the four major regions also achieved month-over-month growth, with the West showing the strongest performance. Sales have still fallen on a year-over-year basis, down 11.3% from June 2019.
“The sales recovery is strong, as buyers were eager to purchase homes and properties that they had been eyeing during the shutdown,” said Lawrence Yun, NAR’s chief economist. “This revitalization looks to be sustainable for many months ahead as long as mortgage rates remain low and job gains continue.”
The median existing home price was $295,000 across all housing types in June, up 3.5% YOY. This increase marks 100 straight months of YOY price gains. Total housing inventory was 1.57 million units at the end of June, up 1.3% from May but down 18.2% from one year ago.
There is a 4-month supply of unsold inventory, down from 4.8 months in May. Properties typically remained on the market for 24 days in June, and 62% of homes sold that month were on the market for less than a month. According to Yun, low inventory has been an issue since before the pandemic, and could create heavy buyer competition and inflated costs.
Single-family home sales rose by 19.9% in June, up to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 4.28 million. Sales are down 9.9% from one year ago, and the median existing single-family home price has risen to $298,600, up 3.5% from June 2019.
“Home buyers considering a move to the suburbs is a growing possibility after a decade of urban downtown revival,” Yun said. “Greater work-from-home options and flexibility will likely remain beyond the virus and any forthcoming vaccine.”
In the Northeast, existing home sales rose 4.3% from May to June, and the median price rose 3.6% YOY to $332,900. In the Midwest, sales rose 11.1% from May to June, and the median price rose 3.2% YOY to $236,900. In the South, existing home sales rose 26% from May to June, and the median price rose 4.4% YOY to $258,500. And in the West, existing home sales rose 31.9% from May to June, and the median price rose 5.4% YOY to $432,600.
“It’s inspiring to see Realtors absorb the shock and unprecedented challenges of the virus-induced shutdowns and bounce back in this manner,” noted NAR president Vince Malta, broker at Malta & Co. in San Francisco. “NAR and our 1.4 million members will continue to tirelessly work to facilitate our nation’s economic recovery as we all adjust to this new normal.”
