NAR reports July existing home sales down 1.7%

The pace of existing home sales cooled as temperatures heated up in July. According to data released Tuesday by the National Association of Realtors’ (NAR), existing homes sold at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 4.06 million homes in July, down 1.7% from June, but up 0.7% compared to a year ago. 

In addition, the median sales price came in at  $434,100 up 2.0% compared to a year ago, marking the 37th consecutive month of year-over-year price increases.

Despite the slower sales pace, the inventory of unsold homes shrunk in July, with just 1.54 million units on the market at the end of the month down 1.9% compared to a year ago and the equivalent of 4.6 months’ supply at the current sales pace. 

“Home sales have been remarkably stable, even amid the rising mortgage rate environment of the past few months,” Lawrence Yun, NAR’s chief economist, said in a statement. “Year-to-date sales are up 2.4% and there’s no doubt that the housing market would be thriving if average mortgage rates were to return near 6%.”

Regionally, existing home sales were up month-over-month in the Northeast (+2.0%), down in the Midwest (-2.0%) and the South (-3.1%) and unchanged in the West. Annually, sales were up 2.1% in the Midwest (970,000 units) and 1.4% in the West (730,000 units), but unchanged in the South (1.86 million units) and the Northeast (500,000 units). 

In addition to existing home sales data, NAR also released its Housing Affordability Index which came in at a reading of 103.3, up from 98.3 a year ago. The index showed that affordability improved compared to a year ago in all four regions with it improving the most in the West (+7.3%) and the least in the Northeast (+1.5%). Additionally, the Realtors’ Confidence Index showed that the median days on market was up one day from both a month and a year ago to 29 days. The report also found that first-time homebuyers accounted for 29% of sales, up from 28% a year ago, but down from 33% in June. 

HousingWire Data shows that single-family existing home sales may be on the rise in August after the slower pace in July. According to the data, for the week ending on August 7, 2026, sales of single family homes rose 11.8% week-over-week to 83,051 homes. However, data shows that it still may not be smooth sailing for the market, as pending home sales were down 3.9% compared to a week ago. 

“There’s a disconnect with both buyers and sellers right now,” Mary Lee Blaylock, the president of Coldwell Banker Affiliates, said in a statement. “Buyers are still coming off of years of experiencing a seller’s market, and that shift is creating some unclear expectations. Many buyers think they can leverage a balancing market to score a deal, but the reality is that the housing market is more nuanced than that – a buyer’s ability to lead the transaction greatly depends on where they live. On the other hand, sellers are working through shifting expectations. Now that homes aren’t flying off the market as they did a few years ago, accurate pricing is critical.”