The industry group issued its housing-market forecast along with its monthly Pending Home Sales Index for June. 

National Association of REALTORS® Chief Economist Lawrence Yun took issue with the increase, saying the central bank has created “a rare and very tight monetary policy condition.” 

The median existing-home price for all housing types in June rose to $410,200, 0.9% less than the all-time high of $413,800 reached in June 2022, the National Association of REALTORS® said. 

Low inventory and high demand are buoying builder sentiment in the face of several headwinds. 

The drop in the pace of new-home construction follows a significant surge the month before, according to government statistics. 

Despite the declining rate of increase, home prices have risen for the last 136 months, CoreLogic said. 

It’s been a groundbreaking time for new home construction — literally. The annual rate of new construction surged to 1.631 million units in May: the biggest leap in 33 years.

Transactions that do go through are typically seeing multiple offers, NAR Chief Economist Lawrence Yun said. 

A third consecutive month of increases in the S&P CoreLogic Case-Shiller U.S. National Home Price Index lends new evidence to claims that previous declines could be behind the market. 

Demand for newly built homes has remained strong as high interest rates keep many would-be sellers of existing homes off the market. 

At the same time, the median existing-home price for all housing types slid 3.1% year over year to $396,100. 

Goldberg’s retirement comes after 30 years of service with NAR and four decades of real estate experience.

The larger-than-expected increase comes as homebuilder sentiment rose for the sixth month in a row. 

There are nearly 40% fewer homes for sale now than before the pandemic began.

The Federal Reserve on Wednesday halted its streak of 10 consecutive rate hikes since March 2022.

Homes affordable to middle-income buyers — defined as households earning up to $75,000 — fall in the $256,000-to-$320,000 range. But of the over one million U.S. homes on the market at the end of April, less than a quarter of all listings were within that price range.