U.S. existing home sales fell in July for the sixth straight month, the longest streak of declines in more than eight years, as higher mortgage rates and a shortage of homes for sale are cooling this once red-hot market.
Sales of previously owned homes dipped 5.9% in July from the previous month to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 4.81 million, the National Association of Realtors said Thursday. That was the weakest pace of sales since November 2015, excluding the three-month pandemic-related drop in the spring of 2020. July sales tumbled 20.2% from a year ago.