Existing-Home Sales Ease, Supplies Tighten --
2006 Historically High Existing-home sales eased but prices stabilized as inventories tightened in December, while 2006 was the third-highest sales year on record.Total existing-home sales – including single-family, townhomes, condominiums and co-ops – eased 0.8 percent to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 6.22 million units in December from a level of 6.27 million in November.
Sales were 7.9 percent lower than a 6.75 million-unit pace in December 2005.There were 6,480,000 existing-home sales in all of 2006, down 8.4 percent from a record 7,075,000 in 2005. The second highest total was 6,779,000 in 2004; NAR began tracking home sales in 1968.
David Lereah, NAR’s chief economist, said home sales remain historically high. "Despite all of the doom-and-gloom stories and dire predictions over the last year, 2006 was the third strongest year on record for existing-home sales," he said. "It looks like we're moving beyond the low for the housing cycle last fall, and buyers are responding to historically low interest rates and competitive pricing by home sellers.
In addition, a tightening inventory of homes on the market is supporting prices."Total housing inventory levels fell 7.9 percent at the end of December to 3.51 million existing homes available for sale, which represents a 6.8-month supply at the current sales pace – down from a 7.3-month supply in November.
The national median existing-home price for all housing types was $222,000 in December, which is unchanged from December 2005. The median is a typical market price where half of the homes sold for more and half sold for less.
For all of 2006, the median price was also $222,000, up 1.1 percent from a median of $219,600 in 2005.
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