On Tuesday, August 12, 2025, a “sale” sign outside a home in the Capitol Hill area of Washington, DC, USA.
Al Drago | Bloomberg | Getty Images
On a seasonally adjusted annual basis, sales of previously owned homes increased by 2% from June to 4.01 million units, according to the National Association of Realtors. Housing analysts were hoping for a slight decline. Sales were 0.8% higher than in July 2024.
These sales are counted by closures, so they could have been signed in May and June, when the average rates for a 30-year fixed mortgage were reduced. According to Mortgage News Daily, the rate went over a short time in May, then ended at 6.67% in June.
At the end of July, 1.55 million homes were on sale, an increase of 15.7% from the same month last year. At the current sales pace, this represents a supply of 4.6 months. The six-month supply is considered to be balanced between the buyer and seller.
Stock is currently at its highest level since May 2020, but is still far below the year before Covid.
More stock is clearly putting pressure on price. The median price of existing homes sold in July was $422,400, up 0.2% from the same month last year, making it a record high in July. Prices have risen annually for the past 25 months, but the market is likely to be an inflection point now.
“An unprecedented improvement in housing affordability to date is to promote home sales,” said Lawrence Yun, chief economist at NAR. “Wage growth is now comfortable outweighing home price growth, and buyers have more options.”
Yoon pointed out that apartment sales have increased in the southern part of the country, where prices have fallen for the past year.
Activities continue to be the strongest in the high end of the market. Revenues for homes priced above $1 million rose 7.1% year-on-year, while sales fell 0.1% between $100,000 and $250,000. Sales for homes priced under $100,000 fell by 8%.
It’s taking longer for the house to sell now. The average home in July was sold in 28 days from the 24th of the previous year. First-time buyers also fell slightly, accounting for 28% of sales, down from 30% in June and 29% in July 2024.
Investors accounted for 20% of all transactions, starting from 13% in July 2024. This could be due to increased supply.
The mortgage rate is still relatively high, with full-speed chiller share rising from 27% the previous year to 31% of transactions.
“This is very expensive,” Yun said.
