Sales of existing homes in the US fell for the eighth consecutive month in October and prices posted a record plunge amid stubborn housing woes, the latest industry figures show today.
The National Association of Realtors (NAR) said sales of existing single-family homes and apartments fell 1.2% to a seasonally adjusted rate of 4.97 million units in October, a nine-year low. That was a drop from a downwardly revised 5.03-million unit pace in September.
The October decline was slightly weaker than economists' consensus forecast of a pace of 5 million units. On a 12-month basis, the sales pace stumbled by 20.7%.
NAR said the national median home price fell to $207,800 in October, down 5.1% from October 2006, the steepest drop on record.
'Lingering effects of the credit crunch were a drag on sales but the mortgage situation has improved significantly,' the NAR said.
The woes of the housing market stem largely from tightening credit due to a crisis in sub-prime mortgages, where loans were given to homebuyers with poor credit histories.
The glut of existing homes for sale rose 1.9% in October to 4.45 million units, which represents a 10.8-month supply at the current sales pace. That was the highest monthly supply on record since the group started tracking this data in 1999.
Many analysts said the NAR data showed conditions would remain bleak for some time.
Sales of single-family homes were unchanged in October, holding n annual rate of 4.37 million units, while the median price was $205,700, down 6.3% from October 2006.
Apartment sales fell 9.1% in October to a pace of 600,000 units, down 20.2% from a year earlier. The median apartment price was $223,500, up 4.9% on a 12-month basis.
NAR said sales were stable in the northeast and south, but fell 1.7% in the Midwest and 4.4% in the west.
