Existing home sales up in July

Sales of previously occupied U.S. homes rose in July for the second month in a row, though they only increased modestly from a year ago, suggesting the red-hot housing market may be cooling off a little. The National Association of Realtors said Monday that existing homes sales rose 2 percent last month from June to a seasonally-adjusted annual rate of 5.99 million units. Sales rose only 1.5 percent from July last year. The median U.S. home price climbed 17.8 percent from a year ago to $359,900.