Housing sales continue to slip

Purchases of existing homes in the Unites States slipped 0.2% in July, the fifth consecutive monthly decline, according to the National Association of Realtors. There were 5.75 million total seasonally adjusted sales, up from 5.76 million in June, marking the slowest pace since November 2002. Adjusted sales were down 9% compared with the 6.32 million unit sales level recorded from the comparable period a year earlier. The national median existing home price for all housing types was $228,900 in July, down 0.6% from July 2006, when the median of $230,200 was the highest monthly price on record. Total housing inventory increased 5.1% at the end of June to 4.59 million existing homes that were available for sale. That represents a 9.6-month supply at the current sales pace, up from a revised 9.1-month supply in June. Single-family home sales fell 0.4% to a seasonally adjusted annual rate 5 million in July, from an upwardly revised level of 5.02 million in June. That figure is 9.3% below the pace of 5.51 million units from the comparable period a year earlier. Existing-home sales rose 1.8% in the West and 1% the Northeast in July. Existing-home sales in the South were unchanged, but in the Midwest they fell 2.2% last month. National Association of Realtors is based in Washington.