US home sales slump further, close 2007 on sour note

0 Comments | AFP, January, 2008

WASHINGTON (AFP) — US existing home sales fell 2.2 percent in December as the beleaguered housing market saw no relief from its woes, data releases Thursday showed.

The National Association of Realtors reported an annualized sales pace of 4.89 million units, below most economist forecasts for a rate of 5.0 million and the weakest since the group began tracking sales in 1999.

The median price for housing, another sign of the unrelenting slide, showed a drop of six percent to 208,400 dollars.

Over the past 12 months, home sales are down 22 percent, suggesting that the worst housing slump in decades has not yet hit bottom.

© 2008 AFP