Existing-home prices continued to show gains but sales fell in June with tight supplies of affordable homes limiting first-time buyers, according to the National Association of REALTORS (NAR).
Existing-home sales, which include single-family townhomes, condominiums and co-ops, declined 5.4 percent to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 4.37 million in June from an upwardly-revised 4.62 million in May. June closings were 4.5 percent higher than the 4.18 million-unit pace in June 2011.
In the Northeast, existing-home sales fell 11.5 percent to an annual level of 540,000 in June, which is 1.9 percent higher than a year ago.