Sales of previously owned homes slowed in July but remained above the level posted a year ago, the National Association of Realtors said Monday.
The association recorded a seasonally adjusted annual sales rate of 3.35 million existing single-family homes nationwide last month, 6.7 percent below the June rate of 3.59 million units, which was the highest in 30 months. The July resale rate was 0.9 percent above the July 1990 rate of 3.32 million units.NAR President Harley E. Rouda said the fact that home resales nationally remained above those of one year ago, is a strong indicator that the housing industry has firmed up in many areas. "The market is holding strong," he said.
July's sales drop from June must be "viewed from the proper perspective," Rouda noted, pointing out that July's resale rate was higher than that for each of the first four months of 1991.
The NAR said it expects rates to continue declining in the months ahead. "We aren't looking for more sales surges. But, there are still plenty of people out there looking, and we do expect sales to be steady, " Rouda said.
The Federal Home Loan Mortgage Corp. reported that the national average commitment rate for 30-year, conventional, fixed-rate mortgages was 9.58 percent for July, compared to 9.61 percent for the previous month. The July average mortgage rate was down by about 0.5 percentage point from one year earlier.
The national median existing-home price was $103,000 in July, up 5 percent from the July 1990 price of $98,100, and up 1 percent from the June price of $102,000. The median is the midpoint - half the homes sell for more, half for less. The yearly increase in the national price suggests there is less pressure on sellers to lower their prices, Rouda noted.
In July, the single largest percentage of existing-home sales, 9.6 percent, fell in the $100,000-$119,999 range.
On a regional basis, the Northeast, which has experienced increases in resales each month since March, posted the sole resale pace increase from June to July - a rate of 580,000 units, up 1.8 percent from June, and up 5.5 percent from one year earlier. The median price in the Northeast was $143,500 in July, up 1.4 percent from July 1990 and up 1.2 percent from June.
The July resale rate for the Northeast was the highest rate since December 1989, when the rate also was 580,000 units.
In the West, the July resale rate of 610,000 units slipped 1.6 percent from June, but jumped 10.9 percent from July 1990. The median price, $144,600, was 3.5 percent higher than one year earlier, but dropped 2.7 percent from June.
The South posted a resale rate of 1.27 million units for July, down 14.8 percent from June and down 3.1 percent from a year ago. The South's median price was $92,900 in July, up 4.6 percent from July 1990, and up 2.4 percent from June.
In the Midwest, the rate of existing-home sales dropped 3.3 percent from June to 890,000 units in July. The rate was 2.2 percent below that of one year ago. The median price in the Midwest was $79,700 in July, up 4.7 percent from July 1990 and up 1.8 percent from June.
The NAR predicted sales of existing single-family homes to total 3.40 million units for 1991, 3.2 percent above the 1990 total.
There were 2.44 million existing homes available for sale nationwide in July, representing an 8.7-month supply at last month's resale rate. The monthly supply number, down from a total of 2.53 million homes in June, is the lowest since January.