Sales of previously owned homes increased 1.4 percent in June, according to new numbers from the National Association of Realtors. The month-over-month improvement pushed home sales 22.9 percent higher than they were last year at the same time. Lawrence Yun, NAR’s chief economist, says the number of available listings has improved and it’s helping home sales. “Supply has modestly improved in recent months due to more housing starts and existing homeowners listing their homes, all of which has resulted in an uptick in sales,” Yun said. “Home sales continue to run at a pace above the rate seen before the pandemic.” But while the number of listings has increased, inventory is still tighter than historically normal. In fact, at the current sales pace, there was a 2.6-month supply of homes available for sale in June. That’s improved from May but still well below the 6-month supply considered healthy for the market. That means buyers still need to be prepared to act fast, since nine of 10 homes sold in June were on the market for less than a month.
