US property market sees slump

According to the National Association of Realtors, a US trade group, sales of existing homes dropped by 2.6 percent in July to an annual rate of 7.16 million units sold.

Sales were flat in the South, but fell in the rest of the country, down by 7.5 percent in the West, by 3.3 in the Northeast, and by 1.8 percent in the Midwest.

Still, sales were the third highest in history, and some analysts said that the drop in sales was actually good for the market, and simply a sign that higher interest rates on mortgages had slowed down the market slightly.

Sales of single-family homes fell in July by 2.3 percent to an annual rate of 6.24 million units, while the sale of condominiums was down by 5 percent to an annual rate of 915,000 units.

Figures also showed that inventory had increased to 2.751 million existing homes, a rise of 2.6 percent and the highest inventory since May of 1988.

This works out to a supply of 4.6 months at the current pace of sales, a small supply historically.

The national median price for a home in July was up to $218,000, a rise 14.1 percent compared to last year at the same time.

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