Existing home sales dropped for a sixth month in July, following a sharp June decline in pending home sales and a fifth consecutive month of waning single-family housing starts. July existing home sales were at a pace of 4.81 million, down 5.9% from June and 20.2% from one year ago. Many home shoppers were staggered by mortgage rates which climbed 70 basis points in just 3 weeks, peaking in the second half of June, roughly when July home closings would likely have gone under contract. Fortunately, mortgage rates have since eased from those peaks, but shoppers who saw the mortgage rate landscape shift so suddenly are likely to remember the experience and have one more reason to hold back on offering top dollar.