US home sales down 0.8 percent in December

0 Comments | AFP, January, 2007

WASHINGTON (AFP) — US home resales slipped 0.8 percent in December to a worse-than-expected 6.22 million units, industry data showed.

Wall Street analysts had expected the figure for existing home sales, released by the National Association of Realtors (NAR), to come to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 6.30 million units.

After booming for years, the US property market cooled in 2006 to leave some economists fearful for the health of the overall economy.

But NAR chief economist David Lereah said that despite "all of the doom-and-gloom stories," 2006 was the third strongest year on record for existing-home sales.

"It looks like we're moving beyond the low for the housing cycle last fall, and buyers are responding to historically low interest rates...