Investing.com - Sales of previously-owned U.S. homes unexpectedly registered no change in August, according to figures released by the National Association of Realtors on Thursday.
Existing home sales remained unchanged in August from the previous month at an annualized pace of 5.34 million units.
Economists had forecast a 0.3% increase to an annualized pace of 5.35 million.
Existing home sales account for 90% of the market and are calculated when a contract closes.
Lawrence Yun, NAR chief economist, says the decline in existing home sales appears to have hit a plateau with robust regional sales.
“Strong gains in the Northeast and a moderate uptick in the Midwest helped to balance out any losses in the South and West, halting months of downward momentum,” Yun said.
“With inventory stabilizing and modestly rising, buyers appear ready to step back into the market,” he added.
The report also detailed that the median existing-home price for all housing types in August was $264,800, up 4.6% from August 2017 ($253,100). August’s price increase marked the 78th-straight month of year-over-year gains.
“While inventory continues to show modest year over year gains, it is still far from a healthy level and new home construction is not keeping up to satisfy demand,” Yun commented.
“Homes continue to fly off the shelves with a majority of properties selling within a month, indicating that more inventory -- especially moderately priced, entry-level homes -- would propel sales,” he concluded.