Dive Brief:
- Sales of existing homes in the U.S. rose 2.4% from June to July, setting a seasonally adjusted annual pace of 5.15 million transactions.
- The month's transactions were 4.3% behind the pace in July 2013, but that month was also the peak for last year. Sales dropped when a mortgage-rate spike killed the momentum.
- The National Association of Realtors, which tracks the sales, said the inventory of existing houses on the market was 2.37 million in July, which is a two-year high, and the portion of sales comprising distressed properties dropped again to 9%.
Dive Insight:
Surveys have found that more home buyers want new homes than they want existing ones, and most reports hailed it as a sign of overall housing-market health. Residential building starts were up 15.7% last month, but multifamily homes are getting a bigger chunk of that growth than single-family homes are.