Existing Home Sales Rise 5.1 Percent in February
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Monday, March 23, 2009; 11:06 AM
Existing home sales rose unexpectedly in February as first-time home buyers snapped up cheap homes, according to data released today by the National Association of Realtors.
Home sales increased 5.1 percent to a seasonally adjusted rate of 4.72 million in February. Analysts had expected the sales rate to continue to fall.
Sales are still down nearly 5 percent from the same period a year ago and hover at depressed levels, according to the industry association. But low prices and the implementation of an $8,000 first-time buyer tax credit appears to have coaxed more buyers into the market, the group said.
"The combination of falling prices and lower mortgage rates make home ownership more affordable, though job insecurity may blunt this," Marc Chandler, an analyst with Brown Brothers Harriman, said in a research note.
Median home prices tumbled 15.5 percent to $165,400 in February from the same period a year ago. "Because entry level buyers are shopping for bargains, distressed sales accounted for 40 to 45 percent of transactions in February," Lawrence Yun, the group's chief economist, said in a statement.
