Existing home sales fall to 3.86 million units in August on a SAAR basis

Last updated: September 19, 2024 3:30 pm

By bexib 2 Min Read

by Calculated Risk September 19, 2024, 10:00 AM

From NAR: Existing home sales fell 2.5% in August

Existing home sales declined in the South, West and Northeast in August 2024, but remained unchanged in the Midwest. Year-over-year, sales declined in all three regions, but remained stable in the Northeast.
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This chart shows existing home sales since 1994 on a seasonally adjusted annual rate (SAAR) basis.

Sales in August (3.86 million units based on SAAR) were down 2.5% from the previous month and down 4.2% from sales in August 2023.

The second chart shows the inventory of existing homes across the country.

According to NAR, inventories rose to 1.35 million units in August from 1.34 million units the previous month.

Headline inventories are not seasonally adjusted, with inventories typically declining to seasonal lows in December and January before peaking in mid-to-late summer.

The final chart shows the year-over-year (YoY) change in reported existing home inventory and months of supply. Since inventory is not seasonally adjusted, looking at the year-over-year change can be very useful. Note: months of supply are based on seasonally adjusted sales, not seasonally adjusted inventory.

Compared to August 2023, August inventory was up 22.7% year-over-year (blue).