Existing home sales fall 1.7% in July as prices hit record

Median home price up 2% to $434,100; June set all-time high

Sales of previously occupied U.S. homes slowed again in July, falling 1.7% from June to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 4.06 million units, the National Association of Realtors said Tuesday. The pace was slightly above the 4.05 million annual rate economists had expected, according to FactSet, and up 0.7% compared with a year earlier.

The median sales price rose 2% from a year earlier to $434,100, an unprecedented level for the month of July, NAR said. In June, the median price reached $442,800, an all-time high for any single month on data going back to 1999. Home prices have risen on an annual basis for 37 consecutive months.

Record prices and the highest mortgage rates in a year have proved an insurmountable hurdle for many prospective buyers, the trade group said.