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| NAR reveals U.S. home sales improve in January Sales of existing homes rose in January, reaching the highest level in seven months, the National Association of Realtors reported Tuesday. Total existing-home sales increased 3 percent to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 6.46 million units in January from an upwardly revised pace of 6.27 million in December. Sales were 4.3 percent below the 6.75 million-unit level in January 2006. David Lereah, NAR's chief economist, said observers shouldn't overreact to the sales gain, or to other short-term effects. "Although we're expecting existing-home sales to gradually rise this year, and buyers are responding to the price correction, some unusually warm weather helped boost sales in January, " he said. "On the flip side, the winter storms that disrupted so much of the country in February could negatively impact the housing market. Total housing inventory levels rose 2.9 percent at the end of January to 3.55 million existing homes available for sale, which represents a 6.6-month supply at the current sales pace – unchanged from the revised December level. Supplies peaked at 7.4 months in October. The national median existing-home price for all housing types was $210,600 in January, down 3.1 percent from January 2006. The median is a typical market price where half of the homes sold for more and half sold for less. According to Freddie Mac, the national average commitment rate for a 30-year, conventional, fixed-rate mortgage was 6.22 percent in January, up from 6.14 percent in December; the rate was 6.15 percent in January 2006. write your comments about the article :: © 2007 Construction News :: home page |