WASHINGTON — Sales of previously owned U.S. homes declined in June while the median sales price climbed to a record high, underscoring continued affordability challenges for prospective buyers, according to the National Association of Realtors.
Existing home sales fell 2.4% in June from May to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 4.09 million units, NAR reported Thursday. Despite the monthly decline, sales were up 2.8% from June 2025.
The June sales pace fell short of economists’ expectations of 4.21 million units, according to FactSet.
Existing home sales have remained near an annual pace of 4 million since 2023, well below the historical norm of about 5.2 million units.
Home Prices Continue to Rise
At the same time, home prices continued to rise. NAR said the national median existing-home sales price increased 1.8% from a year earlier to a record $440,600, the highest level since the association began tracking the data in 1999. June marked the 36th consecutive month of year-over-year price gains.
“Without a doubt, affordability is a major challenge for people who want to become homeowners, which is the reason why we need more supply,” Lawrence Yun, NAR’s chief economist, said in a statement.
According to NAR, the housing market has remained sluggish as mortgage rates have generally moved higher in recent months. Even so, mortgage rates remain below where they were a year ago.
Struggling to Regain Momentum
The housing market has struggled to regain momentum since 2022, when mortgage rates climbed sharply from the historically low levels reached during the COVID-19 pandemic. Existing-home sales were essentially unchanged in 2025, remaining at their lowest annual level in three decades.
Through the first six months of 2026, seasonally adjusted existing-home sales were up just 0.7% compared with the same period a year earlier, according to NAR.
Many of the homes sold in June likely went under contract during April and May, when the average rate on a 30-year fixed mortgage ranged from 6.23% to 6.53%, the highest levels since late August, according to Freddie Mac.
