According to a report by the National Association of Realtors released Wednesday, sales were down nearly 20 percent from a year ago. Existing-home sales tumbled by 0.4 percent in August to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 4.8 million.
Sales of existing homes have fallen for a seventh straight month and are at the lowest since early in the pandemic. Mortgage rates rose over the past few months as the Federal Reserve conducted aggressive interest rate hikes to curb inflation. Last week mortgage rates ballooned to over 6 percent for the first time since the Great Recession.
