U.S. Existing Home Sales Up for Second Month in July

Home sales in the United States continued to rise for the second consecutive month against market expectations, data by the National Association of Realtors showed on Monday.

U.S. existing home sales rose by 2% to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 5.99 million units in July from 5.87 million units in June.

Economists polled by Reuters had forecast sales would decline to a rate of 5.83 million units in July.

Existing home sales also grew by 1.5% on an annual basis.

Meanwhile, the median sales price fell to $359,900, after hitting a new record high in June, rising by 17.8% on a yearly basis.