Home Sales Fall Again; Price Gains Slow To Crawl...

Home sales fall again; price gains slow to crawl, from MSNBC.com, reports that sales of existing homes fell in June for the eight time in the past ten months while home prices edged up at the slowest pace in more than a decade-- more signs that the nation's housing market has slowed dramatically. The National Association of Realtors reported yesterday that sales of existing homes dropped 1.3 percent in June, while the median price was at $231,000, up only 0.9 percent from June 2005, the smallest year-over-year price gain since 1995. The Northeast part of the U.S. showed the biggest drop in sales, followed by the South. The West and Midwest showed no change in sales. The inventory of unsold homes rose to a new record of 3.725 million units, which is almost a 6.8 month supply at the June sales rate. NAR economist David Lereah believes that the decline in housing sales was beginning to level out, but that price weakness will continue as sellers start cutting their asking prices in the face of weaker demand and rising inventories.



http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/14025216/