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Existing Home Sales Jumped in December, Pushing Inventory to 7-Year Low

January 20 2012 Tweet Email This

Sales of previously-owned homes rose for the third consecutive month in December, reaching an 11-month high as the supply of properties on the market dropped to a near 7-year low.

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The National Association of Realtors reported today that existing home sales increased 5 percent month over month in December to an annual rate of 4.61 million units. The gain helped push down the inventory of homes for sale last month to the lowest level since 2005.

The number of previously-owned homes on the market declined 9.2 percent to 2.38 million in December. At the current sales pace, it would take 6.2 months to sell all of those homes, down from 7.2 months at the end of November. A supply ranging from seven to eight months is consistent with stable home prices, according to the NAR.

The median price of existing homes fell 2.5 percent last month to $164,500, compared to $168,800 in December 2010.

December existing home sales were up 3.6 percent from a a year ago, while total sales for 2011 were up 1.7 percent from the previous year with 4.26 million homes sold. A total of 7.1 million homes were sold at the peak of …

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