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Existing Home Sales Collapse |
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Written by Jeff
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Tuesday, 26 January 2010 22:08 |
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Existing home sales plunged a record 16.7% in December to an annualized pace of 5.45 million. The large decline followed several months of strong sales gains that were primarily driven by the first time homebuyer tax credit which was originally slated to expire on November 30. The tax credit has since been extended and expanded but not before impacting sales immediately afterward in December. Despite the sharp decline in December, total sales are still 15.0% above their year ago level.
Our existing home sales report is here SALES SWOON, INVENTORIES DROP, PRICES RISE
For all of 2009, sales increased over 5% from 2008, their first annual gain since 2005. Home prices increased over the last year with median prices up 1.5% to $178,300 and average prices gaining 3.6% to $225,400.
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