• August existing home sales fell for the second consecutive month, down 0.9 percent from July to 5.33 million units (SAAR).
• Inventory of homes for sale fell 3 percent from July and 10.2 percent from a year ago, hitting its lowest level since November 2000.
• The median, seasonally adjusted price of existing homes sold in August rose 0.9 percent from July and 5.3 percent from a year ago to $230,400. Regionally, annual price growth was strongest in the West (9.2 percent) and weakest in the Northeast (0.8 percent).

Existing home sales fell for the second consecutive month in August and have now been roughly flat for a year. Inventory has now declined for six of the past seven months and has posted annualized declines for 14 consecutive months now.  As tight inventory continues to weigh on the market, home shoppers, especially first time buyers, face an extremely competitive home buying landscape. Although growth in new construction has added some much needed supply to the market in recent months, a lot more will need to be built in order to make dents in inventory numbers and ease the pressure on home shoppers.