U.S. home sales fell in August

WASHINGTON, Sept. 24 (UPI) -- Sales of existing U.S. homes fell 2.7 percent in August after four consecutive month of gains, the National Association of Realtors said Thursday.

Sales of single-family homes, town homes, condominiums and co-ops dropped to an adjusted annual rate of 5.1 million units in the month, below July's sales figures, but 3.4 percent higher than the 4.93 million unit level of August 2008, NAR said.

"Home sales retrenched from a very strong improvement in July but continue to be much higher than before the stimulus," NAR Chief Economist Lawrence Yun said in a statement.

Existing home sales fell 2.2 percent in the Northeast and 6.6 percent in the Midwest. Sales in the South fell 3.1 percent. In the West, sales fell 2.7 percent, NAR said.

Nationally, the median existing sales price in August was $177,700, down 12.5 percent from a year ago.

In the month, the number of homes on the market fell to 3.62 million, at the current sales pace an 8.5 month supply of homes for the market, down from the 9.3-month inventory in July, NAR said.