WASHINGTON, June 21 (Reuters) – U.S. home resales fell 3.4% in May to a two-year low as prices and interest rates rose, figures show published on Tuesday by the National Association of Realtors (NAR), the main federation of real estate agents in the country.
It reported 5.41 million annualized and seasonally-adjusted resales last month, the lowest level since June 2020. The April figure was revised further down to 5 .6 million against 5.61 million initially announced.
Economists polled by Reuters on average expected a drop to 5.4 million in May.
Over one year, resales of homes, which account for around 90% of overall sales in the residential real estate market in the United States, fell by 8.6%.
The stock of second-hand homes for sale now stands at 1.16 million units in May, an increase of 12.6% compared to April, while the median selling price increased by 14.8% in one year to 407,600 dollars (386,075 euros). (Report Lucia Mutikani; French version Claude Chendjou, edited by Matthieu Protard)