Existing home sales in the United States fell for the fourth straight month in July due to rising prices and shrinking inventory, the U.S. National Association of Realtors (NAR) announced on Wednesday.

Total existing-home sales, which are completed transactions that include single-family homes, townhouses, condominiums and co-ops, decreased 0.7 percent to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 5.34 million in July from 5.38 million in June, according to NAR data.

"Led by a notable decrease in closings in the Northeast, existing home sales trailed off again last month, sliding to their slowest pace since February 2016," said Lawrence Yun, NAR's chief economist.

The median existing home price for all housing types in July was 269,600 U.S. dollars, up 4.5 percent from July 2017. July's price increase marked the 77th straight month of year-over-year gains.

NAR said that total housing inventory at the end of July decreased 0.5 percent to 1.92 million existing homes available for sale.

"Too many would-be buyers are either being priced out, or are deciding to postpone their search until more homes in their price range come onto the market," Yun said.

Properties typically stayed on the market for 27 days in July, up from 26 days in June but down from 30 days a year ago. Fifty-five percent of homes sold in July were on the market for less than a month.

According to Yun, existing supply now is still not at a healthy level, and new home construction is not keeping up to meet demand.

A quick run-up in mortgage rates earlier this spring has also some cooling effect on home sales, said Yun.