Sales of single-family homes increased 7.2% in July from a month earlier to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 5.24 million units, the National Association of Realtors said Friday. May sales were revised down by 50,000 to 4.72 million units. Sales have been increasing for each of the past three months and existing home sales are now at their highest level since October 2008. The months-supply of new homes fell to 9.4 in June from 9.8 in May and is now at the lowest level since December 2008. Distressed sales accounted for 31% of the overall sales. The median price of an existing home rose to $181,800, although it is down 15.4% from the year-ago period.
