July US Existing Home Sales Rise Unexpectedly, Supply of Available Homes at 5-Year High

10:00 AM EDT, 08/21/2025 (MT Newswires) -- The pace of US existing home sales rose by 2% to a 4.01 million seasonally adjusted annual rate in July from 3.93 million in June, compared with an expected decrease to a 3.92 million rate in a survey compiled by Bloomberg as of 7:50 am ET, data from the National Association of Realtors released Thursday showed.

Total sales were up 0.8% from a year earlier.

"The ever-so-slight improvement in housing affordability is inching up home sales," National Association of Realtors Chief Economist Lawrence Yun said. "Wage growth is now comfortably outpacing home price growth, and buyers have more choices. Condominium sales increased in the South region, where prices had been falling for the past year."

Sales of single-family homes were up 2%, while condominium sales increased by 2.8%.

Sales were up in three out of the four regions of the country, falling only in the Midwest region. Sales increased in three of the four regions from a year earlier, falling only in the West region.

Homes remained on the market an average of 28 days, up from 27 days in June and 24 days a year ago.

The supply of homes for sale increased to 1.55 million homes in July from 1.54 million in June and jumped by 15.7% from the 1.34 million level a year ago.

"Homebuyers are in the best position in more than five years to find the right home and negotiate for a better price." Yun added. "Current inventory is at its highest since May 2020, during the COVID lockdown."

The month supply on market fell slightly to 4.6 months from 4.7 months in June but was higher than the 4.0 months supply a year ago.

The median home price decreased to $422,400 from a $432,700 level in the previous month, but was up 0.2% from $421,400 one year ago.

The monthly existing home sales report from the National Association of Realtors measures sales of single-family and multi-family homes for resale at the time of closing, including the number of existing homes available and the median sales price. A strong reading is a positive sign for mortgage lenders and related consumer product companies.

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