USA: Existing Home Sales Plunge in March

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Existing Home Sales Plunge in March

Tuesday April 24, 11:29 am ET

By Martin Crutsinger, AP Economics Writer

Sales of Existing Homes Fall by Largest Amount in Nearly 2 Decades

 

 

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Sales of existing homes plunged in March by the

largest amount in nearly two decades, reflecting bad weather and

increasing problems in the subprime mortgage market, a real estate

trade group reported Tuesday.

 

The National Association of Realtors reported that sales of existing

homes fell by 8.4 percent in March, compared to February. It was the

biggest one-month decline since a 12.6 percent plunge in January

1989, another period of recession conditions in housing.

 

The drop left sales in March at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of

6.12 million units, the slowest pace since June 2003.

 

The steep sales decline was accompanied by an eighth straight fall in

median home prices, the longest such period of falling prices on

record. The median price fell to $217,000, a drop of 0.3 percent from

the price a year ago.

 

The fall in sales in March was bigger than had been expected and it

dashed hopes that housing was beginning to mount a recovery after

last year's big slump. That slowdown occurred after five years in

which sales of both existing and new homes had set records.