Home sales in June fell to the slowest pace since January with near-historic low inventory for sale

abcnews.go.com:

Sales of previously occupied U.S. homes fell in June to the slowest pace since January, as a near-historic low number of homes for sale and rising mortgage rates kept many would-be homebuyers on the sidelines

LOS ANGELES — Sales of previously occupied U.S. homes fell in June to the slowest pace since January, as a near-historic low number of homes for sale and rising mortgage rates kept many would-be homebuyers on the sidelines. The national median sales price fell on an annual basis for the fifth month in a row, though fierce competition led to about one-third of homes selling for more than their list price.

Existing home sales fell 3.3% last month from May to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 4.16 million, the National Association of Realtors said Thursday. That’s slightly below what economists were expecting, according to FactSet, and marks the slowest sales pace since January.

Sales sank 18.9% compared with June last year. That makes it 11 consecutive months of annual sales declines of 20% or more. All told, sales are down 23% through the first half of this year.

The national median sales price fell 0.9% from June last year to $410,200. That's the smallest annual decline since March. While down from a year earlier, the median sales price rose from the previous month, reaching the second-highest level on records going back to January 1999.

“Perhaps home prices are beginning to firm up or at least certainly any downward pressure is ending,” said Lawrence Yun, the NAR’s chief economist.

The latest housing market figures are more evidence that even with prices easing back on an annual basis after rising for more than a decade many house hunters are being held back by a persistently low inventory of homes for sale.