Existing home sales rise nationwide

Existing home sales rose in 48 states and the District of Columbia during the fourth quarter of 2009, according to a National Association of Realtors survey released today, with 32 states seeing increases in the double digits from the third quarter. Forty-nine states and D.C. saw sales rise year-over-year from their levels in the fourth quarter of 2009. Nationwide, total sales rose to a seasonally adjusted rate of 6.03 million single-family and condo units, thirty-two percent of which were distressed property units. The median single-family price was $172,900, a 4.1 percent drop from the fourth quarter of 2008. The nationwide number represents a 13.9 percent increase from the third-quarter 2009 figure of 5.29 million and a 27.2 percent rise from the 4.74 million sales registered for the year-ago period. “The surge in home sales was driven by buyers responding strongly to the tax credit combined with record low mortgage interest rates,” said Lawrence Yun, NAR’s chief economist, in a statement. TRD