by Calculated Risk on 9/26/2005 10:44:00 AM

CBS reports: Existing Home Sales Hit 2nd Highest Level

The National Association of Realtors reported Monday that sales of existing homes rose 2 percent in August to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 7.29 million units, a sales pace that was exceeded only by an all-time high of 7.35 million units in June.
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The strong demand pushed prices up to a record level of $220,000 last month, a gain of 15.8 percent from August 2004. That was the biggest 12-month increase since a 17.2 percent increase in July 1979.
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While the Realtors predicted that Hurricane Katrina, which came ashore in New Orleans in late August, would impact sales in September, they said the impact in August appeared to be minimal.

Inventories increased from 2,759,000 in July to 2,856,000 in August. This is about what I expected. Existing Home Sales are a trailing indicator and are mostly sales in June and July. Tomorrow's New Home Sales is more interesting and might show the first signs of a slowing housing market.