US Home Sales Fell in July

August 24, 2016 Share Print 0

U.S. home resales fell more than expected in July after four straight months of strong gains as a lack of inventory limited choice for buyers, but further gains in prices suggested the housing market remained on solid ground.

The National Association of Realtors said on Wednesday existing home sales declined 3.2 percent to an annual rate of 5.39 million units last month.

June’s sales pace was unrevised at 5.57 million units. Economists polled by Reuters had forecast sales slipping 0.4 percent to a 5.51 million-unit pace in July. Home resales were down 1.6 percent from a year ago.

“Severely restrained inventory and the tightening grip it’s putting on affordability is the primary culprit for the considerable sales slump throughout much of the country last month,” said Lawrence Yun, the NAR’s chief economist.

Against the backdrop of a tightening labor market that is steadily pushing up wages, and mortgage rates near historically low levels, July’s drop in sales is likely to be temporary.

via Reuters

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Alfonso Esparza

Senior Currency Analyst at Market Pulse

Alfonso Esparza specializes in macro forex strategies for North American and major currency pairs. Upon joining OANDA in 2007, Alfonso Esparza established the MarketPulseFX blog and he has since written extensively about central banks and global economic and political trends. Alfonso has also worked as a professional currency trader focused on North America and emerging markets. He has been published by The MarketWatch, Reuters, the Wall Street Journal and The Globe and Mail, and he also appears regularly as a guest commentator on networks including Bloomberg and BNN. He holds a finance degree from the Monterrey Institute of Technology and Higher Education (ITESM) and an MBA with a specialization on financial engineering and marketing from the University of Toronto.