Homes Sales Dip in June as Prices Reaches All-Time High, Squeezing Buyers

Sales of existing homes dropped in June after rallying in May as would-be buyers pulled back due to affordability concerns while the median sales price surged to a record high.

Existing-home sales fell 2.4% month over month but rose 2.8% year over year to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 4.09 million, the National Association of Realtors® reported Thursday.

On a monthly basis, only the Northeast saw sales of previously owned homes rise, while the Midwest, the South, and the West all experienced declines. Compared to a year ago, sales advanced in every region except the Northeast, where they flatlined.

“The back-and-forth in monthly home sales activity, driven by mild fluctuations in mortgage rates, shows how sensitive home buyers are to affordability conditions,” says NAR Chief Economist Lawrence Yun. “However, job gains—more than half a million since the beginning of the year—will continue to provide support for the housing market.”

In June, first-time homebuyers accounted for 33% of sales, down from 35% the previous month but up from 30% a year prior. This monthly dip suggests that entry-level home shoppers who do not have equity to lean on for a down payments are finding current market conditions defined by inflation and uncertainty challenging.

Even though the sales contracted, the median sales price continued rising, edging up 1.8% to $440,600, an all-time high.

“These record-high home prices are good news for existing homeowners [because] it is their housing wealth, while the news is that for potential homebuyers, especially renters who want to buy their first home, higher home prices is a most difficult challenge that is presented,” says Yun.

Regionally, the Northeast saw the biggest year-over-year price gain, up 2.7% to $564,800, followed by the Midwest, where the median sales price rose 2.7% from last June to $346,600. 

In the South and West, prices increased 0.9% compared to a year ago, climbing to $377,700 and $633,600, respectively. 

Single-family home sales fell 2.4% from May to a seasonally adjusted rate of 3.73 million properties, up 3.3% compared to a year ago. Meanwhile, condominium and co-op sales decreased 2.7% both month over month and year over year.

Inventory and affordability

National inventory of existing homes ticked down 0.6% from May and edged up 1.3% compared to last year to 1.56 million units.

Meanwhile, months of supply rose from 4.5 in May to 4.6 in June but were unchanged from a year ago.

Housing affordability continued making strides in June, with the West leading the way (+8.9%), followed by the South (+8.3%), as the Midwest and Northeast trailed behind at +6.2% and +4.5%, respectively.

Seeking to put the monthly data in perspective, the NAR chief economist points out that affordability today is better than it was a year ago thanks to wage growth outpacing home price growth. Still, he stresses the market needs supply levels to improve, and fast.

“Progress on long-term housing affordability could be hampered if inventory growth continues to stall,” warns Yun. “Without consistent gains in inventory, home prices can accelerate. It is critical to introduce more supply to the market to widen the opportunity for homeownership.”

Summer housing market

Realtor.com® chief economist Danielle Hale says the modest monthly slip and year-over-year growth in existing home sales can be explained by the fact that although mortgage rates are higher now than they were in February prior to the outbreak of the conflict in the Middle East, they are still lower when compared to June 2025.

“In the just-updated Realtor.com Housing Forecast for 2026, we anticipate 4.10 million home sales for the calendar year, which would require roughly a 4.15 million average pace across the rest of the year,” notes Hale.

Active listings growth slowed, but continued to be positive in June, according to Realtor.com data. Furthermore, delistings—the phenomenon of sellers taking a home off of the market without a sale, which is a sign of seller frustration with the market—were down 10% from a year ago.

“Seller expectations appear to be better aligned with buyers so far in 2026,” says Hale.

Looking at the homebuyer composition, the economist argues that despite the slight month-over-month decrease in first-time purchasers, the overall trajectory is a “surprising yet welcome improvement” compared to summer 2025, and may help explain some of the resilience of the U.S. homeownership rate, which held at 65.3% in the first quarter.