Existing home sales likely rose 1.6% to a 5.16 million unit annual rate in July. There was a 5.8% MoM increase in pending home sales in May. Pending home sale contracts typically become completed sales in one to two months. Existing home sales in June fell 1.2%, indicating that the large number of pending contracts in May will likely pass through as completed sales in the July data. Inventory constraints continue to impact the market for existing home sales. In June homes were selling at a 47% faster rate than in June 2012, with the median time on the market for all homes at 37 days in June. While total housing ... (full story)