For the first time in 29 consecutive months, existing-home sales fell below year-ago levels, according to the National Association of Realtors. Sales in November fell to 4.90 million, down 4.3 percent from October and 1.2 percent from November 2012.
The national home prices, however, continue to climb. The median price rose 9.4 percent from October to $196,300. Total housing inventory declined 0.9 percent to 2.09 million existing homes for sale, representing a 5.1-month supply at the current sales pace.
"Home sales are hurt by higher mortgage interest rates, constrained inventory and continuing tight credit," said Lawrence Yun, NAR chief economist, in a statement. "There is a pent-up demand for both rental and owner-occupied housing as household formation will inevitably burst out, but the bottleneck is in limited housing supply, due to the slow recovery in new home construction. As such, rents are rising at the fastest pace in five years, while annual home prices are rising at the highest rate in eight years."
