Existing home sales edge higher; US business activity moderates; Logistics firms boost cross-border facilities

U.S. unit sales of existing single-family homes rose by a slight 0.8% from the prior month in May, as the median sales price increased 1.3% from a year earlier to $422,800, the National Association of Realtors reported Monday.

The trade group said just over 4 million homes were sold in May, based on seasonally adjusted annual figures, down 0.7% from May 2024. Unsold inventory totaled about 1.5 million units at the end of May, up 6.2% from April and increasing 20.3% from May 2024.

“The relatively subdued sales are largely due to persistently high mortgage rates,” NAR Chief Economist Lawrence Yun said in a statement. “Lower interest rates will attract more buyers and sellers to the housing market.”

Freddie Mac’s latest national lender survey showed 30-year, fixed-rate mortgages averaging 6.81% for the week ended June 18, down from 6.84% in the prior week and 6.87% in the comparable week of 2024. The Federal Reserve held its own key borrowing rates unchanged at its latest meeting, and analysts generally don’t expect a significant rate reduction until at least September.

“If mortgage rates decrease in the second half of this year, expect home sales across the country to increase due to strong income growth, healthy inventory, and a record-high number of jobs,” Yun said. 

U.S. business activity growth showed continued signs of slowing down in the latest tracking by S&P Global, with the data firm citing service and manufacturing production gains being offset by tariff-related price increases and declining business confidence.

Based on surveys of corporate purchasing managers and gauging several metrics, S&P Global’s core economic output index posted at 52.8 for June, with numbers above 50 indicating overall growth in business activity. But the number was down from May’s 53, and the overall pace of growth remains well below levels recorded in late 2024.

“Price pressures rose sharply across both manufacturing and service sectors during June, the former reporting an especially steep increase, and again commonly linked to tariffs,” the data firm said in a statement Monday. Companies in some industries increased production in part to get ahead of tariffs taking full effect later this year.

On the plus side, companies during June “took on additional staff at a rate not seen for just over a year, largely in response to the need to meet higher workloads,” S&P researchers said. Job creation reached a 12-month high for manufacturing firms and a five-month peak for service providers.

Supply chain service providers are increasingly planning facilities geared to cross-border trade between the U.S. and Mexico, in anticipation of increased onshoring of manufacturing to North America as tariffs shift product sourcing away from China and other countries.

Logistics news and data site FreightWaves reported multiple investments being made in new facilities in Texas and Mexico in response to shifting trade priorities. Companies developing new supply chain facilities include We Store Frozen, DP World, Geodis Logistics and Evans Transportation.

Evans Transportation last week opened its first office in Laredo, Texas, among the nation’s busiest border-adjacent logistics hubs. It marks the company’s first presence in that area, about a year after debuting its first Mexico facility, and is designed to “meet growing demands of U.S. and Mexico trade,” Wisconsin-based Evans Transportation said in a statement.

France-based Geodis this month opened an office in Guadalajara, Mexico, in part to bolster its services along trade corridors to the U.S. and Canada, “which reinforces the opportunities derived from nearshoring,” a company statement said.