By Dees Stribling MHN Online
Existing home sales dropped by 0.4 percent month-over-month in February, according to the National Association of Realtors on Thursday, to an annualized rate of 4.6 million units, compared with 4.62 million in January. The February 2014 rate is also 7.1 percent lower than the same month last year. In fact, it was the lowest monthly rate since July 2012.
Total U.S. housing inventory at the end of February rose 6.4 percent to 2 million existing homes available for sale, which represents a 5.2-month supply at the current sales pace, up from 4.9 months in January. Unsold inventory is 5.3 percent above a year ago, when there was a 4.6-month supply, says the NAR.
The Realtors’ chief economist, Lawrence Yun, tried to put a good face on the situation by citing problems caused by the hard winter, along with other factors dragging the market. “Some transactions are simply being delayed, so there should be some improvement in the months ahead,” he noted. “With an expected pickup in job creation, home sales should trend up modestly over the course of the year.”
