Median housing jumps 11%

U.S. existing home sales fall 0.4 percent

Median home price jumps 11 percent to $191,000

Updated: 10:49 a.m. ET March 23, 2005

WASHINGTON - Sales of existing U.S. homes fell 0.4 percent in February, while home prices rose at double-digit rates, a trade association report showed Wednesday.
Sales of previously owned homes declined to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 6.79 million units last month, the National Association of Realtors said. That figure includes both single-family homes and condominiums.

Single-family home sales slid 0.3 percent in February to a 5.94 million unit rate from a 5.96 million unit pace in January. Condo sales dropped 1.2 percent to an 848,000 unit rate from an 858,000 unit pace in January.

Analysts had expected sales to fall to a 6.70 million unit rate from January’s upwardly revised 6.82 million clip.

The national median home price jumped 11.0 percent to $191,000 from the same month a year earlier, the NAR report showed.

David Lereah, the group’s chief economist, said the housing market appeared to be in the early stages of settling down.

“Home sales were surging at unprecedented levels for most of last year,” he said. “The cooling we expect in sales this year means we’ll be transitioning from a white-hot housing market into a very strong market that still favors home sellers, but should become more balanced as the year progresses.”