The pace of US existing home sales fell by 2.4% to a 4.09 million seasonally adjusted annual rate in June from an upwardly-revised 4.19 million annual rate in May, compared with an expected increase to a 4.20 million rate in a survey compiled by Bloomberg as of 7:30 am ET, data from the National Association of Realtors released Thursday showed.
Total sales were still up 2.8% from a year earlier.
"The back-and-forth in monthly home sales activity, driven by mild fluctuations in mortgage rates, shows how sensitive home buyers are to affordability conditions," said NAR Chief Economist Lawrence Yun. "However, job gains -- more than half a million since the beginning of the year -- will continue to provide support for the housing market."
Sales of single-family homes were down 2.4%, while condominium sales fell by 2.7%.
Sales declined in three of the four regions of the country, rising only in the Northeast region. It rose in three out of four regions when compared with a year earlier but held steady in the Northeast region.
Homes remained on the market a median of 28 days, down from 29 days in May but up from 27 days a year ago.
The supply of homes for sale decreased to 1.56 million homes in June from 1.57 million in May but was up 1.3% from a 1.54 million level a year ago.
The month supply on market increased to 4.6 months from 4.5 months in May but was unchanged from a year ago.
The median home price increased to a record high $440,600 from $431,200 level in May, up 1.8% from $432,700 level one year ago.
"The median home price has reached an all-time high," Yun said. "Even so, affordability is better than a year ago because wage growth is outpacing home price growth. However, progress on long-term housing affordability could be hampered if inventory growth continues to stall."
The monthly existing home sales report from the National Association of Realtors measures sales of single-family and multi-family homes for resale at the time of closing, including the number of existing homes available and the median sales price. A strong reading is a positive sign for mortgage lenders and related consumer product companies.