{"id":1335,"date":"2025-07-25T12:42:55","date_gmt":"2025-07-25T12:42:55","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/finzexpert.com\/blog\/high-prices-and-rates-keep-home-sales-near-cycle-lows\/"},"modified":"2025-07-25T12:42:55","modified_gmt":"2025-07-25T12:42:55","slug":"high-prices-and-rates-keep-home-sales-near-cycle-lows","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/finzexpert.com\/blog\/high-prices-and-rates-keep-home-sales-near-cycle-lows\/","title":{"rendered":"High Prices and Rates Keep Home Sales Near Cycle Lows"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<div>\n<p>Two months ago, existing home sales hit a five-month low. Last month\u2019s report showed a minor rebound. This month\u2019s update, released July 23, shows a return to weakness.<\/p>\n<p>Sales declined 2.7% in June to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 3.93 million. That leaves activity just above the recent low and still 25% below long-term norms. Year-over-year, sales were unchanged nationally.<\/p>\n<p><\/p>\n<p>As has been and continues to be the case, zooming out on the same chart results in an entirely different impression of the home resale market. Sales levels have hovered near 75% of pre-pandemic norms for three years now.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/a.mortgagenewsdaily.com\/assets\/688103820c13dbbd8c0e809f\/688103820c13dbbd8c0e809f.png\" width=\"650\" height=\"454\" alt=\"\"\/><\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe record high median home price highlights how American homeowners\u2019 wealth continues to grow\u2014a benefit of homeownership,\u201d said NAR Chief Economist Lawrence Yun. \u201cHigh mortgage rates are causing home sales to remain stuck at cyclical lows.\u201d<\/p>\n<hr\/>\n<p><strong>Regional Breakdown (Sales and Prices, June 2025)<\/strong><\/p>\n<div class=\"_tableContainer_16hzy_1\">\n<div class=\"_tableWrapper_16hzy_14 group flex w-fit flex-col-reverse\" tabindex=\"-1\">\n<table class=\"w-fit min-w-(--thread-content-width)\">&#13;<\/p>\n<thead>&#13;<\/p>\n<tr>&#13;<\/p>\n<th>Region<\/th>\n<p>&#13;<\/p>\n<th>Sales (annual rate)<\/th>\n<p>&#13;<\/p>\n<th>MoM Change<\/th>\n<p>&#13;<\/p>\n<th>Median Price<\/th>\n<p>&#13;<\/p>\n<th>YoY Change<\/th>\n<p>&#13;<br \/>\n<\/tr>\n<p>&#13;\n<\/thead>\n<p>&#13;<\/p>\n<tbody>&#13;<\/p>\n<tr>&#13;<\/p>\n<td>Northeast<\/td>\n<p>&#13;<\/p>\n<td>460,000<\/td>\n<p>&#13;<\/p>\n<td>-8.0%<\/td>\n<p>&#13;<\/p>\n<td>$543,300<\/td>\n<p>&#13;<\/p>\n<td>+4.2%<\/td>\n<p>&#13;<br \/>\n<\/tr>\n<p>&#13;<\/p>\n<tr>&#13;<\/p>\n<td>Midwest<\/td>\n<p>&#13;<\/p>\n<td>950,000<\/td>\n<p>&#13;<\/p>\n<td>-4.0%<\/td>\n<p>&#13;<\/p>\n<td>$337,600<\/td>\n<p>&#13;<\/p>\n<td>+3.4%<\/td>\n<p>&#13;<br \/>\n<\/tr>\n<p>&#13;<\/p>\n<tr>&#13;<\/p>\n<td>South<\/td>\n<p>&#13;<\/p>\n<td>1.81 million<\/td>\n<p>&#13;<\/p>\n<td>-2.2%<\/td>\n<p>&#13;<\/p>\n<td>$374,500<\/td>\n<p>&#13;<\/p>\n<td>+0.3%<\/td>\n<p>&#13;<br \/>\n<\/tr>\n<p>&#13;<\/p>\n<tr>&#13;<\/p>\n<td>West<\/td>\n<p>&#13;<\/p>\n<td>710,000<\/td>\n<p>&#13;<\/p>\n<td>+1.4%<\/td>\n<p>&#13;<\/p>\n<td>$636,100<\/td>\n<p>&#13;<\/p>\n<td>+1.0%<\/td>\n<p>&#13;<br \/>\n<\/tr>\n<p>&#13;<br \/>\n<\/tbody>\n<p>&#13;<br \/>\n<\/table>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<hr\/>\n<p><strong>National Market Stats<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>&#13;<\/p>\n<li>Total Housing Inventory: 1.53 million units (down 0.6% from May)<\/li>\n<p>&#13;<\/p>\n<li>Unsold Inventory Supply: 4.7 months (up from 4.6 months in May)<\/li>\n<p>&#13;<\/p>\n<li>Median Existing-Home Price: $435,300 (up 2.0% YoY; a record high for June)<\/li>\n<p>&#13;<\/p>\n<li>Typical Time on Market: 27 days (unchanged from May)<\/li>\n<p>&#13;<\/p>\n<li>First-Time Home Buyer Share: 30% (unchanged from May)<\/li>\n<p>&#13;<\/p>\n<li>Cash Sales Share: 29% (up from 27%)<\/li>\n<p>&#13;<\/p>\n<li>Investor\/Second-Home Buyer Share: 14% (down from 17%)<\/li>\n<p>&#13;<\/p>\n<li>Distressed Sales Share: 3% (unchanged from May)<\/li>\n<p>&#13;\n<\/ul>\n<hr\/>\n<p><strong>Big Picture Takeaway<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>The housing market continues to tread water. Sales levels remain well below historic norms, and despite rising inventory, affordability remains a major headwind. That said, any meaningful drop in mortgage rates could unlock significant pent-up demand\u2014something both NAR and market participants continue to monitor closely.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Two months ago, existing home sales hit a five-month low. Last month\u2019s report showed a minor rebound. This month\u2019s update, released July 23, shows a return to weakness. Sales declined 2.7% in June to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 3.93 million. That leaves activity just above the recent low and still 25% below long-term [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1336,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[361,972,259,732,260,154,309],"class_list":["post-1335","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-loan","tag-cycle","tag-high","tag-home","tag-lows","tag-prices","tag-rates","tag-sales"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/finzexpert.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1335","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/finzexpert.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/finzexpert.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/finzexpert.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/finzexpert.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1335"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/finzexpert.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1335\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/finzexpert.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1336"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/finzexpert.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1335"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/finzexpert.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1335"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/finzexpert.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1335"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}