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Existing US home sales fall 9.6% in February
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March 21, 2011
Original URL: http://en.wikinews.org/wiki/Existing_US_home_sales_fall_9.6%25_in_February


 
Sales of existing homes  in the U.S. fell 9.6% in February, the  (NAR)
said today, in a sign that the U.S. housing market is still .  The
figure was worse than the 3.9% decline anticipated by the  economists
surveyed by    and questions whether the  U.S. housing market is
beginning to recover  or will continue to fall.
, ''}}
A combination of s and ,  where the mortgage holder sells the house for
less than owed on the , accounted for almost 40% of the  sales. 

Millions of foreclosures have forced down home prices and the number of
foreclosures are predicted to rise this year. The inventory of existing
homes listed for sale rose 3.5% at the end of February, a 8.6-month
supply at the current sales rate. As more homes are listed in the
spring, the inventory of houses for sale will probably increase. A five
or six month inventory is usually considered a healthy balance between .

According to , another 3.6 million bank-owned  homes and possible
foreclosures will be added to the inventory by 2013, adding to the 6.7
million home foreclosures since 2006. Thus housing inventories will
probably continue to remain high, delaying the point when prices
stabilize. The median sales price in February fell 5.2%, down  to a
price level not seen since  April 2002.

"We have an uneven, choppy recovery,"  said NAR's chief economist .
"Hopefully it is a recovery that is taking place." 

== Sources == 
* http://money.cnn.com/2011/03/21/news/economy/existing_home_sales/
* http://www.marketwatch.com/story/home-resales-remain-depressed-2011-03-21



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