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Five Key Highlights

• Existing-home sales fell 2.5% in August to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 3.86 million
• Sales are down 4.2 percent from a year ago and are down 39 percent from the cycle high of 6.34 million in January of 2022.
• The median existing-home sales price fell from $421,400 to $416,700.
•  For the the 14th consecutive month, the median price is higher than a year ago.
• Unsold inventory sits at a 4.2-month supply at the current sales pace, up from 3.3 months a year ago.

Existing-Home Sales Percent Change from Month Ago

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Existing-Home Sales Supply

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The supply of homes is the highest in over four years.

Existing-Home Sales Percent Change from Year Ago

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Sales were falling so fast that year-over-year numbers were increasingly easy to beat. But things reversed lower after getting to -1.7 percent year-over-year.

From a year ago sales are down 2.5 percent. Sales are down 39 percent from the January 2022 high.

Existing-Home Sales 1968-Present

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Existing-home sales courtesy of Trading Economics and the NAR

I repeated last months chart. The August 2024 sales are 3.86 million seasonally adjusted annualized.

Existing-home sales are below the level of December 1995 and also May 1979.

Adjusted for population, these are abysmal numbers.

Stronger than Expected Housing Starts

Yesterday, I noted Stronger than Expected Housing Report in August, Especially Completions

New home sales for August have not yet been released.

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