Existing Home Sales On Low End Of Expectations

Existing home sales have been flat and results for June are on the low end of expectations, at a 5.380 million annualized rate for a 0.6 percent decline from May's 5.410 million. Year-on-year sales in June were down 2.2 percent.

For home sellers, the good news in the report is strength in prices, up 4.5 percent for the median to $276,900 and a 5.2 percent year-on-year gain. For buyers, the good news is a 4.3 percent rise in the number of homes on the market, at 1.950 million and, relative to sales, a gain to 4.3 months from 4.1 months.

Yet the sales results are nevertheless very soft with only the South, at a mere 0.4 percent, in the year-on-year plus column. Watch for new home sales on Wednesday which have been doing better than resales though a fractional decline is Econoday's consensus.