US EXISTING HOME SALES FALL TO SLOWEST PACE SINCE JUNE 2025

Sales of previously owned homes in the United States fell 2% in August compared with July, according to the National Association of Realtors. The decline brought sales to 3.98 million units on a seasonally adjusted, annualised basis, marking the slowest pace since June 2025. The slowdown was felt most acutely in the Northeast and Midwest regions. Year-on-year, sales were down 1.2%, though the National Association of Realtors reported that existing home sales were up 1.6% year-to-date through the first eight months of the year.

Housing inventory reached 1.62 million homes for sale at the end of August, up 3.2% from July and 5.9% from the same month the previous year. This represented a 4.9-month supply of homes—the highest level in over a decade, according to the National Association of Realtors. The median price of an existing home sold in August was $429,100, up 1.6% year-on-year and described as a new record high for the month of August. Price increases were strongest in the Northeast, where inventory remained lowest, whilst the West was the only region to record a median price decline compared with August 2025.

Lawrence Yun, chief economist for the National Association of Realtors, attributed the sales decline to higher mortgage rates, noting that mortgage rates and home sales typically move in opposite directions. Sales remained strongest at the highest end of the market, with sales of homes priced above $1 million up 3.9% year-on-year, whilst sales of homes priced between $100,000 and $250,000 fell 10% over the same period.