Existing home sales fell in June

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The pace of existing home sales in the United States fell in June to a lower-than-expected 5.75 million unit annual rate while prices and inventories showed signs of stabilizing, the National Association of Realtors said in a report Wednesday.

Sales were off 3.8 percent in June and hit their lowest level since November 2002 when it was 5.73 million unit pace.

Economists polled by Reuters were expecting home resales to fall to a 5.88 million-unit pace from the 5.99 million-unit rate initially reported for May. Sales were revised in May to 5.98 million units.

The inventory of homes for sale fell 4.2 percent to 4.196 million units at the end of June, which represents an 8.8 months' supply.

The median home price in June was $230,100 which represents a 0.3 percent increase from their year-ago levels and is the first such increase in 11 months.