November existing home sales fall by 8.6 percent
WASHINGTON —
Sales of existing homes plunged far more than expected last month as buyers recoiled from October’s financial wreckage on Wall Street. The middle sales price fell by the largest amount on enter.
The National Association of Realtors said Tuesday existing home sales vandalic 8.6 percent to an lasting a year rate of 4.49 million in November, from a downwardly revised pace of 4.91 million in October.
Sales had been expected to fall to a pace of 4.9 million units. according to Thomson Reuters.
The median sales price plunged 13.2 percent in November to $181,300, from $208,000 a year ago. That was the lowest price since February 2004, the biggest year-over-year very little on records going back to 1968 and most convenient the biggest drop since the Great Depression.
Lawrence Yun, the normally upbeat chief economist of the Realtors collection, found few positive spots in the month’s dismal data. But he did note that after prior stock market crashes home sales usually rebounded within a not many months.
“We hope that, similarly, the current slowdown in dwelling sales activity is a short-term marvel,” Yun said, noting that canaille in the real effects industry are “crossing our fingers” that the market will recover. Sales fell encompassing the inhabitants, with the largest drop - of 12 percent - in the Northeast.
Nationally, the Realtors assign places to estimates that sales of distressed properties made up 45 percent of all wealth sales in November.
There were 4.2 million unsold homes on the emporium in last month. At the current sales pacing, it would take 11.2 months to sell all the properties, matching a record set extreme head.
The glut is being driven by a massive wave of mortgage foreclosures. And until the inventory of homes falls to more regular levels, analysts say, the housing slump is likely to persist.
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