Sales of previously occupied homes fell more than 27 percent last month to the lowest level in 15 years, the National Association of Realtors reported.

Weak home sales are bad news for containerized cargo imports. Home sales have a strong influence on sales of furniture, the highest-volume cargo category in import statistics compiled by PIERS Global Intelligence Solutions, a sister company of The Journal of Commerce.

PIERS statistics show containerized imports of furniture were up 10.5 percent in the first quarter, boosted by the homebuyers' tax credit that expired April 30. PIERS expects those numbers to weaken if housing sales remain weak. Government data show sales by furniture and home furnishing stores in June dipped 1.1 percent from May, although they were up 1.7 percent from the weak levels of June 2009.

The realtors association said July's month-to-month drop in sales of previously occupied homes was the steepest in records dating back to 1968. July sales were estimated at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 3.83 million, the lowest since 1997 and down from June's downward revision to 5.26 million.

It would take 12.5 months to sell off the 4 million unsold homes on the market at the current sales pace, the realtors association said. The median sale price was $182,600, up 0.7 percent from a year ago.

Source: JOC