Sales of previously occupied U.S. homes accelerated in September as declining mortgage rates and a pickup in available properties on the market encouraged home shoppers. The National Association of Realtors said Thursday that existing home sales rose 1.5% last month from August to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 4.06 million units. That's the fastest sales pace since February. Sales jumped 4.1% compared with September last year. The national median sales price climbed 2.1% in September from a year earlier to $415,200. The housing market has been in a slump since 2022, when mortgage rates climbed from historic lows. Affordability remains a daunting challenge for most aspiring homeowners following years of skyrocketing home prices.
Amazon's annual Prime Day sales are here again. The e-commerce giant is making the now-misnamed Prime Day a four-day event for the first time. Its promised blitz of summer deals for Prime members started at 3:01 a.m. Eastern time on Tuesday and runs until early Friday. The company launched the event in 2015 and expanded it to two days in 2019. Amazon executives declined to comment on the potential impact of President Donald Trump's tariffs on Prime Day deals. Some retail analysts expect U.S. consumers to make purchases this week out of fear that high taxes on foreign imports will make items they want more expensive later.
BY HALELUYA HADERO AND CORA LEWIS Associated Press
It's summertime, and the bargains seem easy at a time when many consumer prices are high. July sales events have become a seasonal revenue driver for the retail industry since Amazon launched its first Prime Day in 2015. While consumers may be enticed by the advertised can't-miss savings on some products, personal finance experts say shoppers should be careful not to fall for potentially misleading marketing or give in to impulse buys. Amazon is holding its 10th Prime Day event on Tuesday and Wednesday. Retail rivals like Walmart, Target, Kohl's, and newcomers TikTok Shop and Temu launched summer promotions ahead of Amazon, hoping to siphon off some of the e-commerce giant's savings-hungry shoppers.
