January Existing Home Sales Down 23%

The National Association of Realtors remarks that January's existing home sales "slip"ped 23.4% from the same month in 2007 to a seasonally adjusted annualized rate of 4.89 million units, the lowest pace in more than a decade. Single family existing home sales were down 22.4% to a rate of 4.34 million units. Master of understatement Lawrence Yun, NAR chief economist, said many potential buyers remain on the sidelines.
Median sales price of an existing single family home in January fell 5.1% from the same month in 2007 to $198,700, and median price for all existing homes was down 4.6% year-to-year to $201,100. The inventory of unsold houses increased from 9.7 months worth in December to 10.3 months in January.