U.S. existing home sales dropped to a six month-low in July as home owners who are locked into cheap mortgages refrained from selling their properties with the cost of new mortgages for another home at the highest levels in decades. That limited inventory, however, helped drive prices higher on a year-over-year basis for the first time since January. Existing home sales fell 2.2% in July to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 4.07 million units, the lowest level since January, from an unrevised 4.16 million units in June, the National Association of Realtors said on Tuesday. Economists polled by Reuters had forecast ... (full story)