US Existing Home Sales at the Bottom Yet? Prices and Sales Decline in August

The National Association of Realtors (NAR) reported today that US Existing Home Sales fell by more than expected to 4.91M in August. Prices of existing homes also fell, dropping by a record amount.

It had been expected that the seasonally adjusted, annualized rate of existing home sales would fall to 4.93M in August, down from a revised 5.02M in July. Today’s data represents a 2.2% fall from last year’s sale pace. Sales are now down by 10.7% year to date.

The median price of an existing home came in at $203 100, down 9.5% from last year. This is the largest drop since NAR records began in 1999. Prices in the West make the toughest reading as they now stand at -23.9% YoY.

Inventories of homes for sale improved slightly from July’s record breaking 4 575 000 by 7.0% to 4 255 000. However, this figure still represents 10.4 months’ supply at the current sales pace.

Price action in the US Dollar is currently range-bound. As you can see from the GBPUSD below, price has remained constrained since the beginning of testimony from Capitol Hill on Tuesday. The range is likely to remain intact until traders can digest the remarks and implications concerning the proposed credit market bailout.

Trading in the GBPUSD is currently bound between the extremes of 1.8640 and 1.8469.