It's good news for would-be home buyers, even if it sounds like teeny tiny good news. Home prices dropped 0.77% in July compared to the month prior, marking the first time in three years they've moved in a downward direction, reports CNBC. It's also the biggest single-month drop since January 2011 and a reverse from what is typically seen in July, when prices tend to nudge up as families look to purchase homes ahead of the start of a new school year.
But we're still a long way from being able to call housing affordable. Home prices in July were 14.3% higher than in July 2021. Over the past 25 years, buyers with a 20% down payment and a 30-year mortgage have spent 23.5% of the median household income to purchase the average home. The figure is currently almost 10 points higher, at 32.7%. The impacts of that show: Reuters reports sales of new single-family homes crashed to a 6.5-year low in July; it cites ramped-up mortgage rates and house prices as the key drivers of that. (Read more home prices stories.)
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