Sales of existing homes down in September

WASHINGTON, Oct. 20 (UPI) -- Existing U.S. home sales slipped in September after a surge of sales in August, the National Association of Realtors said Thursday.

The group said sales of single-family homes, townhomes, condominiums and co-ops dropped 3 percent to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 4.91 million in the month, down from an upwardly revised 5.06 million in August.

The tally for September was 11.3 percent higher than the 4.41 million sales pace of September 2010.

NAR Chief Economist Lawrence Yun said, "Existing-home sales have bounced around this year, staying relatively close to the current level in most months."

"The irony is affordability conditions have improved to historic highs and more creditworthy borrowers are trying to purchase homes, but the share of contract failures is double the level of September 2010," Yun added.

For August, the national median price for all housing types was $165,400, down 3.5 percent from September 2010.

The total inventory of existing homes fell 2 percent at the end of the month to 3.48 million existing homes for sale, an 8.5 month supply at the current sales pace.