Existing Home Sales Fall More Than Estimates

- Existing Home Sales for July fell to 6.33M versus estimates of 6.55M and 6.6M in June.

BOTTOM LINE: Sales of previously owned US homes fell in July to a two-year low, a slowdown that may lead the Fed to keep interest rates steady, Bloomberg said. The number of unsold homes on the market rose to 3.86 million, the highest since at least 1999 and 7.3 months’ supply at the current sales pace. The median price of an existing home rose .9% to $230,000. Sales of condos and co-ops rose 2.8%. Overall, sales fell 5.4% in the Northeast, 5.9% in the Mid-west, 1.2% in the South and 6.4% in the West. The Case-Shiller Housing futures are still only projecting a 4.6% decline in the average home price over the next 9 months, which would be considered a “soft-landing” considering the average home has appreciated over 50% over the last few years.