Luxury home sales rose in July, while entry-level buyers pulled back, according to the National Association of Realtors.
Existing-home sales cooled in July, but the market split by price tier — million-dollar-plus properties kept climbing while sales under $250,000 continued to decline.
Existing-home sales fell 1.7 percent month-over-month to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 4.06 million in July, up 0.7 percent from one year earlier, NAR reported. Year-to-date sales are up 2.4 percent.
The divide was clearest at the top of the market. Home sales of $1 million or more rose 15 percent from a year ago, Lawrence Yun, NAR’s chief economist, said on a call.
“The top end of the market [is] continuing to improve, while the lower segment of society [is] clearly showing frustration with the economic conditions overall, and also home sales; home sales actually lowered[, with] fewer home sales on anything below the $250,000 category,” Yun said.
Yun attributed the split to wealth concentrated among higher-income buyers, pointing to stock market gains and rising home equity as drivers at the top of the market.
“Home sales have been remarkably stable, even amid the rising mortgage rate environment of the past few months,” Yun said in a statement. “Year-to-date sales are up 2.4 percent, and there’s no doubt that the housing market would be thriving if average mortgage rates were to return near 6 percent.”