December Existing Home Sales Up 2.4% ; Full-Year Sales Sink

The pace of existing-home sales crept up in December but closed the year down 3.1 percent compared with 2013, according to a trade group Friday. Sales were measurably better in the second half of 2014 – up 8 percent compared to the first six months of the year, according to the National Association of Realtors Lawrence Yun. For December, volume rose 2.4 percent from November to an annual rate of 5.04 million units. The rate was slightly below Wall Street's expectation but 3.5 percent higher than a year ago. The median existing-home price in December was $209,500, up 6 percent from a year earlier. Existing-home sales in the West jumped 9.8 percent in December and 3.8 percent in the South. But sales fell 3.5 percent in the Midwest and 2.9 percent in the Northeast during December. For all of 2014, there were 4.93 million sales nationwide, a 3.1 percent decline from 5.09 million in 2013. Total housing inventory at the end of December amounted to a 4.4-month supply at the current sales pace – down from 5.1 months in November. Yun said the drop in supply "raises some affordability concerns" as faster price appreciation could offset demand.