Key Takeaways from the August Existing Home Sales Report

• After a sizzling summer, when sales beat expectations for three months in a row, existing home sales volume cooled a bit in August. Existing home sales fell 4.8 percent in August from July, to 5.31 million units at a seasonally adjusted annual rate (SAAR).
• Over the past few years, August has tended to be a month when sales pull back somewhat. In August of 2013, 2014 and now 2015, existing home sales have declined after strong increases in July.
• The median price of existing homes sold in August rose 0.6 percent to $217,700, the first month-over-month increase since April.

After a torrid start to the summer, fall seems to have come early to the housing market as sales of existing homes cooled nationwide in August. Existing home sales fell 4.8 percent in August to 5.31 million units at a seasonally adjusted annual rate (SAAR), but remained 6.2 percent higher than a year earlier, according to the National Association of Realtors (figure 1).

July’s sales were also revised slightly downward, to 5.58 million units from 5.59 million, continuing a three-month trend of subsequent downward revisions to exceptionally strong initial sales reports.

Over the past few years, August has tended to be a month when sales pull back somewhat. In August of 2013, 2014 and now 2015, existing home sales have declined after strong increases in July.

Sales fell across the country, with the West and South reporting the sharpest declines – down 7.8 percent and 6.6 percent, respectively – from July. Existing home sales in all major regions are up between 6 percent and 7 percent over the year.

The median price of existing homes sold in August rose 0.6 percent to $217,700, the first month-over-month increase since April. A falling median sales price for existing homes – all while sales volumes were increasing – suggested that more entry-level buyers were an increasingly prominent part of the market over the summer. But these buyers appear to have retreated somewhat in August, as more well-heeled buyers came to the fore.