Single-Family Home Resales Rise in February
Economists at the National Association of Realtors® are forecasting a small decline in the sales of existing single-family homes in 2004, but a 2% increase in home resales in February has them thinking that they may have underestimated the strength of this year’s housing market.
Home resales reached a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 6.12 million units last month, the Realtors® reported on Thursday, only the eighth month ever that resales have exceeded the six million mark. February’s sales activity was 5.7% ahead of the pace of a year earlier.
“Currently, we are projecting that home sales will decline slightly, but they remain at exceptionally high levels,” said David Lereah, the association’s chief economist. “With a strong underlying demand for housing from a growing population in a recovering economy, we could be flirting with another record this year.”
The national median existing-home price was $168,100 in February, up 5.7% from February of 2003.