US home sales slip as regional price gap widens
Existing-home sales fell in June while the national median price hit a record, with Realtor.com data showing prices easing in the West and South.
By Sofia Marchetti · World Affairs Correspondent
3 min read
Sales of existing U.S. homes fell in June, while the national median selling price reached a record high, according to the National Association of Realtors. The figures show buyers are still facing high borrowing costs and tight supply, even as price trends differ sharply by region.
NAR said Thursday that sales of previously owned homes declined 2.4% from May to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 4.09 million. Compared with June 2025, sales were up 2.8%.
The June pace was weaker than economists expected. FactSet said analysts had projected an annualized rate of about 4.21 million sales.
Existing-home sales have stayed near a 4 million annual pace since 2023, according to NAR. That remains well below a longer-term norm closer to 5.2 million.
NAR said the median sales price rose 1.8% from a year earlier to $440,600, the highest level in its data going back to 1999. The trade group said prices have increased year over year for 36 consecutive months.
Realtor.com data pointed to a more uneven market beneath the national figure. Median list prices in June were down 2.5% from a year earlier, the largest annual decline in its records going back to 2017.
By region, Realtor.com said list prices have fallen 7.3% in the West and 3.5% in the South since their 2022 peak of $449,000. Over the same period, list prices rose 10% in the Midwest and 12.6% in the Northeast.
Mortgage rates remain a central drag on the market. The Associated Press reported that rates have generally moved higher in recent months since the start of the war between the U.S. and Iran, as surging oil prices lifted inflation concerns and pushed up long-term bond yields used by lenders to price home loans.
Freddie Mac data cited by the Associated Press showed the average 30-year mortgage rate ranged from 6.23% to 6.53% during April and May, when many June sales likely went under contract. The Associated Press reported that those levels were the highest since late August, though rates remained below year-earlier levels.
First-time buyers made up 33% of purchases in June, NAR said. That was down from 35% in May but above 30% in June 2025; historically, first-time buyers have accounted for 40% of home sales.
NAR chief economist Lawrence Yun said affordability remains a major barrier for prospective homeowners and said the market needs more supply. The broader housing market has been weak since 2022, when mortgage rates climbed from pandemic-era lows, according to the Associated Press.
Inventory improved only slightly from last year. NAR said 1.56 million homes were unsold at the end of June, down 0.6% from May and up 1.3% from a year earlier.
That total remains below the roughly 2 million homes for sale that was typical before the COVID-19 pandemic, according to NAR. At June’s sales pace, available inventory equaled 4.6 months of supply; NAR said a balanced market is usually considered five to six months of supply.
This story draws on original reporting from Fortune.