US existing home sales decline in December

US existing home sales fell in December as higher prices and record low inventory levels shut out first-time buyers.

Existing home sales dropped 4.6% to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 6.18m last month, according to the National Association of Realtors, with sales falling across all regions. Economists were expecting sales to have fallen to 6.44m units.

Home resales, which make up the majority of sales in the US, slipped 7.1% year-on-year in December.

However, a total of 6.12m homes were sold in 2021, the most since 2006, up 8.5% from 2020 despite sales remaining concentrated in the upper price-end of the market.